Evidence of meeting #82 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was internet.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
Yes, absolutely.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Again, your predecessor has suggested that it might be advisable in the future to have, besides the statutory penalties, administrative penalties as an effective tool for minor cases of discipline. Is it too early to ask you about your thoughts in that area?
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
I can give you my opinion on that only because when I was with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, there were administrative penalties there. I do believe it can act as an incentive. Right now the powers under the Lobbying Act are quite limited. It's really, at the end of the day, public shame. She issues a report and tables it to Parliament and that's it, unless she has referred it to the RCMP and in fact they pursue a criminal action and then there's an offence.
I would think that administrative penalties would be possibly a good thing but maybe not just that. There might be other avenues. There might be a spectrum that could be imposed, and on that I would like to take the time to reflect so that I could possibly provide advice during the next five-year review.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Commissioner Dawson has often commented that the rather modest administrative penalties are to encourage compliance rather than to actually penalize. I guess it would depend on the amount.
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
On the amount...absolutely, yes.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
In the OCL's 2017-18 departmental plan, again, Commissioner Shepherd said that she planned to make greater use of technology to improve client service. I would anticipate compliance.
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
Yes.
December 6th, 2017 / 3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
I'm just wondering about your thoughts and your experience, your background....
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
I agree. I think we need to be in the modern age. Everybody uses gadgets. I understand that in the last year—and I have read as well the same material—that it is now possible to register through iPad and your cellphone. She has done fantastic work with relation to the registry. It is quite a useful tool. I think what I would likely have to do is to maintain that.
I don't know if there's much more that needs to be done. I would have to be debriefed by the team on that. I would like my focus to be more a little bit on the other section of the mandate, which is enhancing awareness and outreach activities.
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
Absolutely, through multimedia and using all the tools at our disposal and making sure that people out there...and that it doesn't cost too much, obviously, attending conferences, etc. Yes, using social media, using those tools to educate.... That's what people use today, so we need to use those tools.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
What are your thoughts at first glance on the still fairly new code of conduct that Commissioner Shepherd introduced? Hackles were raised at first word but there seems to be some acceptance today. I'm just wondering what your thoughts might be.
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
Certainly, the code of conduct is key. It's important. There needs to be one and the act provides that there should be one. The code of conduct was written back in 2015, and since then she has issued quite a number of guidance documents to assist lobbyists. It's from 2015. It may not be my priority in the first year but certainly I will make sure to review it and possibly ask lobbyists what they think and whether it is accessible and easy to understand. Then I'll go from there to try to possibly improve it.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
My last question is on the flexibility that we sometimes see of former office-holders not registering as lobbyists but being consultants or advisers within a firm of lobbyists. I wonder what are your thoughts there on where to draw the line.
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
There is a prohibition for former designated public office holders to lobby. They can't do it. There is the little 20% if you're with a consultant. My thoughts on that is the law is the law. I'm here to regulate the law, apply the law. Unless the law changes, that's what it's going to be.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Zimmer
Thank you, Mr. Kent.
For the next seven minutes, we'll have Mr. Cullen.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you very much, Chair.
Good afternoon, how are you, Madam Bélanger?
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
Fine, thank you.
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
Thank you very much.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I want to read out the section under the Lobbying Act through which you were appointed, or to this point of the process:
The Governor in Council shall, by commission under the Great Seal, appoint a Commissioner of Lobbying after consultation with the leader of every recognized party in the Senate and House of Commons and approval of the appointment by resolution of the Senate and House of Commons.
That's the law.
I've known you a bit. I like you. You seem very well-qualified. Don't take any of the concerns personally.
It's the appointment process that we're concerned with. For your information, and for the committee's understanding, we received a letter from the Prime Minister's Office with just your name on it, and it said, “We're consulting. This is the only person on the list, and this is what's going to happen next,” which is what we're in now, and then eventually if we pass this stage, we move to Parliament.
My concern is, under that process, if that's consultation...I don't know. It seems a strange definition of it as it creates a challenge for the opposition parties, which by law were meant to be consulted. The law talks about consultation, and what most Canadians would think of as consultation is a conversation. The government changed the process, so that you submitted your application.
NDP
Nominee for the position of Commissioner of Lobbying, As an Individual
Yes, absolutely. I can give you all the details you want about what I went through. Back in early July, I received a call from Boyden Canada, which simply asked me whether I was going to consider applying both for the Information Commissioner's position and the Lobbying Commissioner's position.