With the proposed new Toronto Act stating the City of Toronto must implement a lobbyist registry, and with the Bellamy Inquiry reccommending that the city carefully monitor and control lobbying practices, the City of Toronto is now developing a new framework for controlling lobbying activities.
The city’s current lobby registry is voluntary, and only a minority of councillors have stepped up to participate. Participating councillors keep a register in their office and ask all lobbyists to sign in, and this list is then made available for the public to review.
“Clarifying the relationship between lobbyists and the City, and enhancing mechanisms to control lobbying will help to ensure the City’s decision making processes are open, accountable and rules are applied consistently,” says Mayor David Miller. “The new City of Toronto Act recognizes Toronto as a mature order of government that needs to formalize and regulate the influence lobbyists have on our decision-making processes.”
In a press release issued last Friday, the city announced that it is now seeking public input to help develop the framework. If you are interested in weighing in on the new lobbyist control framework, presentations can be made before the Bellamy Recommendations Implementation Steering Committee on June 12 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or June 15 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. For more information, check out the city’s website.
