Information & Ethics committee  They go right into the system. One of the determinations made when the Lobbying Act was coming into force, given the importance of the 15th of the month for transparency, was that these communications would go directly onto the system, onto the website, so that they'd be visible by the 15th of the month.

Information & Ethics committee  On the lobbyists' code of conduct, the one option available to me--and it was available to my predecessor--is to table a report to Parliament. There were four reports on one individual.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. What may be of interest, when you think of the consequences of name shaming, this individual had us in court until yesterday trying to have the reports removed from Parliament and have it determined that he wasn't performing lobbying activities that were registerable. For some of the lobbyists there is quite a lot of concern about having their names in a report to Parliament.

Information & Ethics committee  I've been watching the situation, but I have not officially opened something. I will be.

Information & Ethics committee  I just indicated that I'm going to look into this issue, because I think those are important points. On the negative impact, I'm not prepared to speculate at this point without looking into the matter.

Information & Ethics committee  The actual registration. In the spirit of full transparency, we would like to see who's actually attending the meetings. I think it would add quite a bit.

Information & Ethics committee  It's in the regulations.

Information & Ethics committee  I would say so.

Information & Ethics committee  In respect of the first question, one of the elements is whether there was a payment or an expectation of payment. That's one of the criteria: communicating on a registerable activity with a public office holder. All of those would be elements the investigator would be looking at.

Information & Ethics committee  It has been interpreted as 20%.

Information & Ethics committee  That's one of the those areas of confusion, because of the “oral” and “arranged”. That's obviously a registerable communication: meeting at that social event and trying to obtain the grant or the contract. The organization or corporation would need to include that in determining whether they're hitting the significant amount of time that's registerable.

Information & Ethics committee  Whether they're hitting the significant amount of time, because that's a registerable communication. If they just happen to bump into each other and start talking, they would not need to file a monthly communication report. But if you were at a social event and the lobbyist asks to meet you in the corner in ten minutes, and you agree, then it has become “arranged”.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, that's correct.

Information & Ethics committee  It's just that it's the 15th of the month and they have to keep track. Some organizations and corporations have chosen to reduce the number of people communicating with the federal government.

Information & Ethics committee  For the lobbying, that came into force into July 2008, so it's been a couple of years. As to the costs, what I've heard is more anecdotal evidence—non-profits deciding to look at whether they're hitting the “significant amount of duties” test. Some have determined not to register.