Evidence of meeting #23 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
You mentioned having some constraints due to resources in your department. What kind of budget increase would you look for?
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
It's interesting; we had asked for these five employees in the IT world back in 2019, hoping it would be in the budget of 2020. It wasn't. We got the money in 2021.
My next review, which will probably be a budget ask in the next year, I think would be for another five employees. I'm not looking to...but it's 30 people to do the same reporting burden as all other institutions, plus our mandate, which is quite demanding.
I'll say that probably it would be between five and 10, just so I don't put myself in a corner.
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Absolutely, yes.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
I'll leave it there. Thank you once again for your time today.
Conservative
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Madam Commissioner.
It is interesting, because I have been following the activities of the Office of the Commissioner since the beginning, that is, since 2008, when the 1989 Lobbyists Registration Act became the Lobbying Act. I believe that the first few years were devoted to the Registry of Lobbyists. People had to register and understand why they had to do so, how it worked, and so on. Now, we can see that the second and third points in your presentation are probably more important.
When we look at your website and your annual reports, we can see that there are a lot of figures: the number of people registered, the number of investigations, and so on. We also hear about your key values, but mostly about transparency. Generally speaking, you want to be transparent to inspire confidence.
Do you find that the current level of compliance is sufficient to maintain or inspire confidence?
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
That's a good question.
Given that there are 8,000 lobbyists and that I have 32 files, we can say that there is compliance. There is no doubt about that.
However, that does not mean that the transparency of the current regime could not be improved. A lot of lobbying activities can take place without ending up in our registry. So I think the opportunities for improvement are related to the regime, not to compliance.
Bloc
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
They are very important, and I think it is time to start looking at them.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
That's right, because you've shifted into another gear, in my opinion.
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Yes, that's it.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
I'd like to talk about foreign lobbyists, because during the pandemic, communications were online. How do you handle that?
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
If consultants or organizations communicate with any of you and they reach the threshold, they have to register. Organizations, and even foreign governments, are represented by consultants and are on the Registry of Lobbyists.
If you want to know whether unregistered lobbying is taking place, I have no such records. I have not seen any lobbying activity, whether in the media or elsewhere, that is not in my registry.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
The big companies will not run any risks, I believe. It's not worth it.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Earlier, you talked about a stakeholder engagement plan. Could you tell us a little about that, please?
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
That is part of our plans. We have to find out where the shortcomings are, who we should contact, and how to proceed. We're prioritizing that, because, as I said, we're short on resources. At the moment, we rely a lot on what is happening in the media and the allegations we receive. When we see that someone is often late in declaring his lobbying activities or calls us to say that he's not sure of his obligations, we contact him again to make sure he understands them. However, we don't know what's going on across the country, and we have to find ways to do that.
I'm not the expert on this. I have an excellent team that is working on it. So I hope to be able to give you more details the next time I come to see you.
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
That's right. The problem is what I don't know.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
What are the highlights of the consultations that you conducted in 2021-22?
Commissioner of Lobbying, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
The 2021-22 consultations dealt with the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct, because I felt that it had shortcomings. When I decided to hold the first consultation, in 2020, it had already been in force for five years. I also had the opportunity to table reports in Parliament, in which I was able to identify these shortcomings. I want to remedy them, because the code is under my authority, as it is not a law or a regulation.
So I did a consultation, and the feedback I got was positive. Half of the people said it was fine and clear, while others were a bit more concerned about the hospitality they could offer in the context of political activities that might affect their lobbying activities later on. So I've read everyone's comments, and we're reworking the code. I'm not aiming for perfection, but I am aiming for excellence. I really want it to be a code we can be proud of. Other countries are looking at what we are doing, so I am working very hard with my team to ensure that we have a code that contains high ethical standards for lobbyists.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Are you looking for a prescriptive code or a code of principles?
