OTTAWA, November 23, 2005 — The Honourable David L. Emerson, Minister of Industry and Registrar General of Canada, today announced the government's intention to amend the Lobbyists Registration Act to strengthen the governance and enforcement provisions of the Act and to enhance the independence of the Registrar of Lobbyists. It is also the Government's intention to ensure that the Registrar has all the resources he needs to effectively carry out his mandate.

This policy announcement builds on the Government of Canada's commitment to strengthen integrity in lobbying activities, and to guarantee a high level of transparency regarding the operations of government in the service of Canadians. Canadians need to be assured that lobbying is done ethically and with the highest standards with a view to conserving and enhancing public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of government decision making.

The proposed amendments would include giving the Registrar the authority to administer monetary penalties in addition to the current sanctions and to preclude offending lobbyists from contacting public office holders for up to two years. Other measures would lengthen the current limitation period to allow the Registrar to investigate and prosecute breaches of the Act within two years of their coming to his attention.

The government will build on current actions to enhance the independence of the Registrar of Lobbyists, and this will include, in future, changes to the appointment process.

For more information, please contact:

Christiane Fox
Office of the Honourable David L. Emerson
Minister of Industry
(613) 995-9001

Media Relations
Industry Canada
(613) 943-2502

Backgrounder

Summary of Proposed Amendments to the Lobbyists Registration Act

Overview

Free and open access to government is an important matter of public interest. Thus, lobbying is a legitimate and important activity that must be done in an open, transparent and fair manner.

Canadians need to be assured that any lobbying activity is undertaken ethically and is governed by the highest professional standards. This is essential to preserve public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of government decision making.

To this end, the independent Registrar is required by the Act to submit his annual and investigative reports to the Registrar General, who in turn is required to table these in Parliament.

A series of proposed measures is outlined below.

Strengthen Enforcement Provisions

The lobbyist registration system relies on lobbyists registering and abiding by the Lobbyists Registration Act. Where there are breaches of the Act's provisions, it provides for a number of enforcement provisions, such as fines and terms of imprisonment.

The proposed amendments to the Act would strengthen enforcement provisions through the following:

• Providing specifically that failure to register would be an offence.



• In instances where lobbyists fail to register, extending the limitation period from two years after the event to two years after the Registrar becomes aware of the infringement.



• Increasing fines for any individual who is guilty of an offence. Under the Act, an individual guilty on summary conviction is liable to a fine not exceeding $25 000, and an individual guilty by way of indictment is liable to a fine not exceeding $100 000. The fines would be increased to $50 000 upon summary conviction and to $250 000 on an indictable offence.



• Establishing a fair and efficient Administrative Monetary Penalty (AMP) scheme as a supplementary scheme to the existing system of criminal penalties. AMPs would allow the Registrar to choose between referring the matter to the RCMP and the Attorney General, and using AMPs. AMP provisions would permit the Registrar to impose AMPs of up to $50 000 for breaches of the Code or of the Act.



• Applying the same AMP scheme to a breach of the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct.



• Authorizing the Registrar to impose other sanctions where a criminal offence or a violation has occurred, such as publishing the names of lobbyists or prohibiting a lobbyist from contacting public office holders for a period of up to two years.

Enhance the Independence of the Registrar

Proposed amendments to the Act would achieve the following:

• Enhance the Registrar's independence by having the Governor-in-Council appoint the Registrar. This would ensure that the Registrar maintains full independence from any Minister, and offers the Registrar the security of tenure.

In addition, the government will make the appointment of the Registrar subject to a Parliamentary review.

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Date Modified: 2005-11-23 Important Notices