Information & Ethics Committee on Oct. 6th, 2025

[Nancy Bélanger]

I've sent 18 offence files to the RCMP since my appointment as commissioner. So, in seven and a half years, there have been 18 files. Two charges have been laid, two files are under discussion, the RCMP still has four files and the rest have been sent back to me with no charges laid.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

You said earlier that about ten files a week failed to comply with the rules. Are we talking about 18 files that posed a major issue, or 10 files that you receive each week?

[Nancy Bélanger]

The 10 files are the ones that don't comply with the rules for registration in the registry. These lobbyists are registered, but they're 60 days, a year or three years late. I don't investigate those files. I don't have the resources to do so. However, I ask the lobbyists why they're late, I ask them to take training and I accept their registration.

That said, I investigate people who aren't registered but who are clearly lobbying. I come to see you as witnesses because they're meeting with you. After that, I look at whether they meet the threshold or whether they should have registered. I then decide whether to refer their file to the RCMP.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

We agree that, in terms of access to information and privacy and also in your case, we currently lack the structure to empower the commissions. This structure would help ensure that the government is held accountable for its decisions and that the people who interact with the government can realize at some point that they're going too far.

[Nancy Bélanger]

Absolutely.

I want to clarify one thing. The people who engage in lobbying these days without being registered don't need to be registered. The issue is the act and its interpretation of the 32 hours.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

It's informal lobbying, basically.

[Nancy Bélanger]

It's informal lobbying, yes, if you want to call it that.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

Okay. That's also a serious issue for us.

[Nancy Bélanger]

You have to be registered. Transparency is crucial for a healthy democracy.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

You have only six seconds left. Thank you.

After Ms. Lapointe's remarks, I think that we'll have time for one last round of two and a half minutes for the Conservatives, followed by two and a half minutes for the Liberals.

Ms. Lapointe, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, Ms. Bélanger. Welcome to our committee.

I find the topic that you're discussing quite compelling. I also want to congratulate you and your team on your accomplishments. You said that things are going well with your team. I would like to return the compliment, given that this certainly stems from your leadership.

[Nancy Bélanger]

That's kind of you. Thank you.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

You seem to have a very good working relationship within your group, and that's a good thing. The work you do is very interesting.

What you're proposing for the 32‑hour registration threshold, the 20% rule, should have been done a long time ago. I understand all that. I assume that when you were appointed, you had already started your verification work to prepare for the Lobbying Act's review.

I hope my colleagues have taken into account the history of the pandemic. It wasn't funny for anyone or any team. We were all working remotely, and it was harder to be cohesive.

Since you presumably had to prepare, had you already started your work toward making recommendations?

[Nancy Bélanger]

As soon as you ask me for something, I can give you something. My work is constant.

I just came from a meeting with my provincial colleagues, who are also reviewing their legislation. I have new ideas every day. There are recommendations I made in 2021 that I push a little further and others on which I back down. I'm always reassessing myself and seeing, with my team, what we can do to improve the transparency and ethical behaviour of lobbyists.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

When we revise the act, then, you and your team will be ready.

[Nancy Bélanger]

Yes, absolutely.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

That's interesting.

You said a number of interesting things earlier. For example, you said that you were required to send everything to the RCMP, when there are things that could be done according to a certain spectrum. I'm thinking of the requirement to take training, for example, so that lobbyists know when they can or cannot lobby and when they have to register.

Should it be a little more open to everyone, so people understand their lobbying obligations?

[Nancy Bélanger]

Are you talking about our awareness activities?

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes.

[Nancy Bélanger]

I also have an obligation to inform the public, so we do a lot of outreach. We have a website, and people can contact us on social media. On the 15th of each month, we remind people that they have to do certain things.

We also give a lot of training. I give it to public office holders, for example, public servants who aren't sure what is and isn't lobbying. We've given training 65 times already, and we aren't even halfway through the year. Personally, I never say no to a request for a presentation, so I give a lot of them, and my team of four advisers give a lot as well.

That said, you're right: It's important to inform the public so that people don't roll their eyes every time they hear the word “lobbying”. It isn't a harmful activity, it's something right; it just has to be transparent.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I understand very well. It's important for people to be able to promote their interests, their points of view, their business and what they represent, and demonstrate how legislative changes can affect certain sectors or businesses in the country. That's interesting.

You talked about British Columbia and Quebec, where legislation is going well, and you said that we should invite people from the RCMP and those provinces. However, are there countries we should be visiting or evaluating? I know that my colleague tried to touch on that earlier.

[Nancy Bélanger]

You could certainly invite people from France, whose regime is one of the most recent, but also forward thinking. I would also ask you to invite the people from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or the OECD. They're the ones who propose spectra, look at all the elements and make recommendations. I talk to the people at the OECD regularly, and I think it would be an interesting team to invite to look into this. They would be able to give you a comparison of everything that's being done elsewhere in the world.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

That's interesting. We'll probably have to add the OECD to our list, then, when the time comes to do the study.

Thank you very much.

[Nancy Bélanger]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you, Ms. Lapointe.

Just to follow up on what Ms. Lapointe said, it's kind of an unusual request. Typically, when we ask for a list of witnesses, we'll ask each party to submit their list to the clerk.

I'll make the suggestion, Ms. Bélanger, that you and your staff come together with a suggested list of witnesses for this study that you could supply to the clerk for our consideration. That's in addition to the other requests I made.