Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Belanger is photographed near her office in Ottawa on June 12, 2018. Belanger is proposing that current rules that prevent the lobbying of elected officials by people who have worked on their political campaigns for a four-year cooling-off period be reduced to one or two years.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
A coalition of lawyers and academics – including experts on ethics – is urging MPs to oppose plans to water down rules for lobbyists who have worked on political campaigns.
They warn that an imminent change to the lobbying code of conduct could allow people to fundraise for politicians and work on their campaigns, and then lobby them “soon afterwards.”
Current rules prevent the lobbying of elected officials by people who have worked on their political campaigns for a four-year cooling-off period. The proposed update to the code from Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger reduces this period to either one year or two years, depending on the significance of the role the lobbyist played.
High-profile campaign work would trigger a 24-month ban, while “other political work” would lead to a one-year wait. The commissioner would also have discretion to reduce the cooling-off period further in certain cases.
Ms. Bélanger told The Globe and Mail that she made the recommendations after receiving a legal opinion that the current four-year limit could breach Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She called the shorter cooling-off periods “reasonable and appropriate.”
She said the changes to the code should be read in conjunction with other rules, including a ban on lobbying if a personal or business relationship creates a sense of obligation.
More than 40 experts, including 15 lawyers and 26 law, politics and ethics professors from across Canada, wrote to the Commons ethics committee this week saying that a minimum four-year prohibition on lobbying after significant political activities or fundraising is compliant with the Charter, and necessary to protect integrity in government and policy-making.
The letter says the commissioner’s proposed “changes will allow lobbyists to do significant favours for MPs and party leaders through campaigning and fundraising, and give significant gifts and benefits to MPs and party leaders, and then lobby them right afterwards or soon afterwards.”
“This is clearly unethical and will undermine the integrity of all federal policy-making processes,” it adds.
The letter calls on the Commons committee “to reverse its position and reject the commissioner’s proposed changes.”
Bryan Evans, a professor of political science at Toronto Metropolitan University and who is among those who signed the letter, said he was concerned the rule changes would make the “already rather weak” regime on lobbying even weaker.
The four-year cooling off period helps slow down the “revolving door” between public servants and politicians and corporate interest groups, he explained.
“If it’s moved to one or even two years, it just becomes fuel for that revolving door.”
MPs on the Commons committee on privacy and ethics backed the commissioner’s proposal, with the exception of NDP member Matthew Green. They also recommended allowing sponsored travel and increasing to $200 the annual limit that a lobbyist can spend on gifts and hospitality.
Mr. Green said his fellow MPs had missed an opportunity to strengthen the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, and to bolster public confidence and trust in politicians and political institutions.
“Those with rich corporate clients and the ability to raise money and work on campaigns ought not to have greater access to ministers, senior level bureaucrats and politicians than the average, everyday Canadian,” he told The Globe and Mail.
In a letter to the commissioner sent last month about her proposed changes, the ethics committee recommended greater clarity in the wording, including around the definition of “political work.” It suggested that significant political fundraising should be counted as political work and also lead to a cooling-off period.
John Brassard, the chair of the committee, said it had made its recommendations after listening to extensive and varied testimony. Witnesses included lobbying organizations, which expressed concerns about the proposed cooling-off periods and spending limits.
“It is the committee’s expectation that the commissioner will provide some further clarity in the code based on our comments and recommendations before it is published,” he said.
Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, warned that proposed changes to the cooling-off rules would allow “favour trading” between lobbyists and MPs.
He said 26 citizen groups, supported by more than 1.5 million Canadians, also oppose the commissioner’s “attempt to gut key ethical lobbying rules.”
The new rules “will allow lobbyists to lobby cabinet ministers and MPs soon after campaigning or fundraising for them,” Mr. Conacher said. He called on the ethics committee to reverse its position and reject the proposals.