As for the 20% rule, I think the objective is the same. We want to be able to target the true lobbyists and ensure that the individual citizen or single community organization that knocks on an MP's door once or twice every six months doesn't have to register.
Mr. Chenier said that rules need to be made to establish that distinction between true lobbyists and occasional lobbyists, if we can call them that. The 20% rule is just a tool. It isn't perfect, but it's what we found. A distinction is made by saying that if someone lobbies for more than 20% of their time, that person is a true lobbyist. The problem is that, since the definition includes only that part of the communication with the public office holder, that means that all the activities that Mr. Chenier was talking about are not taken into consideration. If we broaden the definition to include all those activities, including the travel expenses, I think that most of the lobbyists would very quickly reach that 20% threshold. Then we would be able to make the distinction between true lobbyists and occasional lobbyists, who go and see his or her MP once every six months. That person would very likely not reach the 20% rate and would not have to register. The 20% rule isn't perfect and people can always try to get around it, but by broadening the definition, I think we'd be able to respect the spirit of the act behind that rule.
Let's go back to what shouldn't be changed, which is the question the member asked. In Quebec, we have a distinction between the lobbying done by profit-oriented organizations and lobbying done by non-profit organizations. As I wrote in my brief, this creates a two-tier system. It gives selective transparency and, in my opinion, the last thing we want to do is eliminate the 20% rule, which would introduce this two-tier system where non-profit organizations would not have to register. That's the danger of eliminating the 20% rule.
To wrap up, in the United States, the fourth largest lobby is the American Association of Retired Persons, a non-profit organization. Among the things that should not change, above all else, it's introducing this distinction.