Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Lemieux, I think both of your questions were bang on. To your second point, and not to go far from what Jim was saying, I think our style of lobbying, certainly from the American style of lobbying, is totally different. I think the rules we put in place and the rules that a

Information & Ethics committee  I think we'll all have a minute to say something on this. I think with the grandiose American style of anything that happens, the influence on us is profound in some cases, and unfortunately in most cases. But with lobbying, the money in the U.S.—the retainer amounts, the succe

Information & Ethics committee  The concern we have with the 20% rule is how you define the 20% rule. In some cases it's 15% versus 20%, or is it 25%? It gets into that area where there's a lot of potential for miscommunication or misunderstanding of those rules, which could cause lobbyists to be, in part, in a

Information & Ethics committee  That's a really good question. The reason why it is so is that in our association, specifically, more so than the GRIC, we're based in Toronto, so a lot of our members are firms that do work with Queen's Park and also with the City of Toronto. We've been lucky, in that the lobbyi

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know of any that cause any specific confusion.

Information & Ethics committee  I think by and large they are one and the same. We prefer to call them government relations firms, but my firm, Fleishman-Hillard, is a strategic communications firm. We do both public relations and public affairs. Within public affairs, we do public relations. So there are fir

Information & Ethics committee  I'd like to see that happen. I don't think you can. You can be a government relations firm and not do lobbying in the sense that you can do a lot of public affairs activities, one of them not being lobbying, which means you can do stakeholder management, advocacy, etc. But just

Information & Ethics committee  Just to that, Mr. Andrews, I think if a public office holder or a former member or a former cabinet minister decides to go into a government relations firm or strategic communications firm, that person is absolutely bound by the five-year rule. Therefore, they will not engage in

Information & Ethics committee  The good news, Mr. Del Mastro, is that we both have a clear indication of what the discussions are about.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, or unless you register your activities.

Information & Ethics committee  You're right. Our goal is to get both of them taken into account. Stephen, I don't know if you have a comment with respect to this aspect, but our intent was not to eliminate anybody from actually getting into the profession.

Information & Ethics committee  I would agree, actually, sir. The five-year rule—which is why we're suggesting it be put down to one—I think is very limiting for a lot of folks who either want to get into government or work for a particular member or minister and who know that when they leave they're bound with

Information & Ethics committee  I was just going to say to Mr. Butt's point about companies, whether or not they come to government with respect to some sort of money issue, I think what the commissioner has done is take away the whole contingency success fee for lobbyists, which we agree with. So even if a lob

Information & Ethics committee  It's no different, I think, from what Mr. Angus was saying about how the NDP caucus or members would gather at a specific bar on a specific night, and there are people who might know that there are NDP, Bloc, or Liberal members who congregate at a certain bar for a social activit

Information & Ethics committee  Well, no. In fact I'm proud to be a Conservative, and there are many Conservative lobbyists. But I also live and work in Toronto, which is a Liberal province. I do very well there as a lobbyist. I think at the end of the day, what it comes down to, if you are working in the gover