The Harper government broke its election promise yesterday to require ministers to record their contacts with lobbyists, instead ordering lobbyists to file monthly reports on their oral communications with federal officials.
Draft regulations published yesterday to accompany the government's Lobbying Act create a new public registry of contacts between lobbyists and senior government officials.
The registry will go further than the current system, under which lobbyists have to publicly disclose only who is paying them, which federal agencies they are targeting, and on which general files.
But the new registry will not require reports on written communications, such as e-mails or letters, between senior government officials and lobbyists. Instead, the registry It will keep tabs on only "oral and arranged communication."
The new regulations would not require lobbyists to report oral communications initiated by federal officials dealing with the development of policy, programs or legislation.
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Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch said the new registry, with its emphasis on oral and arranged contacts, will capture only a fraction of lobbying activities.
"These regulations have more loopholes than rules in them," he said.
In the 2006 election campaign, the Conservative Party platform pledged a new law to "require ministers and senior government officials to record their contacts with lobbyists."
However, a federal spokesman said the new rules are not going in that direction. The new regulations are the details of how the Lobbying Act, which was passed in 2006, will work.
"The balanced approach that we determined as a Parliament was to put the positive obligation on the lobbyists," said Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for Treasury Board President Vic Toews.
In an open letter published yesterday, Mr. Toews said that the Lobbying Act will "ensure that lobbying is done out in the open for all to see. When it's done ethically and transparently, lobbying is a legitimate and necessary part of our democratic system."
The goal, Mr. Toews said, is to increase checks on lobbyists "while avoiding excessive red tape."
But the Government Relations Institute of Canada, a national organization that represents lobbyists, said its members are bracing for increased bureaucracy, given that lobbyists will now have to file reports every month.
In addition, the government's decision to create a new commissioner of lobbying as an independent agent of Parliament to whom the lobbyists will report will require more federal officials to monitor the action in Ottawa's backrooms.
"There will be an internal administrative burden, certainly, there will be an additional cost. But you have to play by the rules as they are set," GRIC president Hugh Scott said.
He said he will consult lobbyists about whether they support the new regulations, but applauded the government's efforts to clear up the rules governing the business, which came under fire under the Liberal government.
"We're very supportive of the spirit and the intent of the legislation," Mr. Scott said.
However, the Conservative government is still facing internal opposition to its requirement that retired senior bureaucrats and ministerial aides not become lobbyists for five years after they leave public service. In the past, the cooling-off period was one year.
In addition, a major lobbyist said there are concerns that some people in the business "will be seeking shortcuts" to the new regulations.
Interested parties have 30 days to comment on the draft regulations, which the government hopes to bring into force on July 1.
In the last general election, the Conservative Party vowed to stop the back-and-forth between politics and lobbying, which it said was corrupting government. In particular, a number of lobbyists were working for the government as well as for a Liberal leadership campaign or with Liberal ministers.
The Conservatives vowed at the time to prevent lobbyists from obtaining contingency payments, and the new regulations require lobbyists to certify that they are not receiving success fees.
