{"id":2763,"date":"2008-02-07T22:36:32","date_gmt":"2008-02-08T03:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2763"},"modified":"2008-02-10T11:53:57","modified_gmt":"2008-02-10T16:53:57","slug":"lobbyists-start-your-registrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/02\/07\/lobbyists-start-your-registrations\/","title":{"rendered":"Lobbyists: Start your registrations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/110\/254400768_0912e9972a.jpg\" height=\"198\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>More than <a href=\"http:\/\/http:\/\/network.nationalpost.com\/np\/blogs\/toronto\/archive\/2007\/12\/12\/bigger-budget-for-lobbyist-registry-slips-in-unopposed.aspx\">four years<\/a> after Mayor David Miller instructed staff to begin drafting legislation for the first municipal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/lobbying\/index.htm\">lobbyist registry<\/a> in Canada, it&#8217;s finally here.<\/p>\n<p>Monday will mark the first day lobbyists will be required to <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-admin\/\">register<\/a> before seeking to influence <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/lobbying\/glossary.htm\">public office holders<\/a> at the City of Toronto.<\/p>\n<p>The lobbyist registry, which is based on the principle that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lobbying is a legitimate business activity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an outcome of the inquiries undertaken by the City of Toronto between 2002 and 2005 that examined the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/inquiry\/inquiry_site\/index-home.html\">MFP computer leasing scandal<\/a>. The registry also became a legal requirement for the City of Toronto when it was included in the City of Toronto Act legislation that came into force last year.<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, lobbyists will be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/lobbying\/registration.htm\">required to disclose<\/a> who they are, who their client is, what the subject matter is that they are lobbying on, who they are lobbying, how they will lobby and what, if any, elected or senior bureaucratic office the lobbyist has held.<\/p>\n<p>For those caught lobbying unregistered, the penalties are stiff. A first offense will cost you $25,000 while a second offense will be $100,000.<\/p>\n<p>Few debate the merits of a lobbyist registry (there have been registries for years at the provincial and federal levels of government) but defining what lobbying is and who is a lobbyist are contentious. Try this multiple choice quiz on for size:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 40px\">Question: Which of these two entities will be required to register their activity in the lobbyist registry?<br \/>\na) a homeowner who needs a variance to erect a fence<br \/>\nb) a manufacturer that wants to sell widgets to City Hall?<br \/>\nc) neither A or B<br \/>\nd) both A and B<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Answer: It depends. If the homeowner has hired a lobbyist, architect, lawyer or other professional to advocate on their behalf, the professional will have to register. And, if the manufacturer is only responding to an RFP and does not seek to influence decision-makers outside the pre-determined process then no registration will be required. (For clarity, there are a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/tenders\/pdf\/procurement.pdf\">set of rules<\/a> [PDF] that have to be followed when an RFP is issued, registering is not a way of legitimately violating those rules.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But the waters become even murkier when not-for-profits come into play. As the lobbyist registry <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/legdocs\/municode\/1184_140.pdf\">legislation<\/a> [PDF] sees it, not-for-profits should be able to lobby without registration so long as they don&#8217;t cross one of four lines. First, they cannot have a mandate to support a for-profit corporation. Second, they cannot use a consultant lobbyist or other professional who is not an employee or volunteer for the organization to make their case. Third, the not-for-profit can&#8217;t be lobbying for a for-profit entity. And, fourth, the not-for-profit isn&#8217;t advocating outside of the designated process for their grant application. (Some consultant lobbyists are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nowtoronto.com\/issues\/2005-09-29\/news_story6.php\">on the record<\/a> supporting a different approach.)<\/p>\n<p>Not-for-profits come in many shapes and sizes. They can be the conscience of our city (<a href=\"http:\/\/unitedwaytoronto.com\/\">United Way<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodshare.net\/\">FoodShare<\/a>, for example) or they can be shells for big business, like all the Big Tobacco-funded \u00e2\u20ac\u0153smokers rights\u00e2\u20ac\u009d groups that have been started over the years, including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mychoice.ca\/en\/public\/guiding_principals.aspx\">MyChoice.ca<\/a>. But if you take MyChoice.ca as an example, you&#8217;ll see quickly why some lobbyists are privately saying they could drive a truck through the loopholes in this legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Though MyChoice.ca essentially advocates positions that are in the interest of Big Tobacco (officially known as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sourcewatch.org\/index.php?title=Canadian_Tobacco_Manufacturers_Council\">Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers&#8217; Council<\/a>) and receives money from CTMC, it states boldly that while it does acknowledge the financial assistance of CTMC, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153we do not promote the CTMC or any tobacco companies or products.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As I read the lobbyist legislation about to be enacted, so long as MyChoice.ca doesn&#8217;t hire a consultant lobbyist, they would not have to register to lobby with the money of CTMC if a debate were to come up about, say, banning smoking in cars or increasing taxes on cigarettes because of the line quoted above.<\/p>\n<p>To be sure, the intention in the not-for-profit section of the legislation is good. I wouldn&#8217;t want a grassroots cycling advocacy group, for example, to be considered lobbyists if it received donations from cycling manufacturers. But, nonetheless, this loophole exists and it will take time to see if and how it is exploited.<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153devil in the details\u00e2\u20ac\u009d issues like the one I explored above, a lobbyist registry <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=2158\">is<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=2479\">long<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=2548\">overdue<\/a> at the City of Toronto. Though I&#8217;m sure that within the next couple of years it will be necessary to review the registry to see if it needs a few screws tightened or loosened, right now, I&#8217;m just happy the registry survived the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalpost.com\/news\/toronto\/story.html?id=28ea8483-d26f-4dfa-b0b8-1da3319547f4&amp;p=1\">many<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/network.staging.nationalpost.com\/np\/blogs\/toronto\/archive\/2007\/11\/12\/lobbyist-registry-budget-to-double.aspx\">attacks<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nowtoronto.com\/issues\/2003-10-30\/news_story.php\">councillors<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=2730\">across<\/a> the political spectrum.<\/p>\n<p><em>To register as a lobbyist, click <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.toronto.ca\/lobbyistregistry\/\">here<\/a>. For more information on the registry, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/lobbying\/index.htm\">Toronto.ca\/lobbying<\/a>. If you <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/lobbying\/registration-required.htm\">aren&#8217;t sure<\/a> whether you are required to register your political activities as lobbying, contact the Office of the Lobbyist Registrar at (416) 338-5858.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic\">Photograph by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/photopia\/\">HiMY SYeD<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than four years after Mayor David Miller instructed staff to begin drafting legislation for the first municipal lobbyist registry in Canada, it&#8217;s finally here. Monday will mark the first day lobbyists will be required to register before seeking to influence public office holders at the City of Toronto. The lobbyist registry, which is based<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/02\/07\/lobbyists-start-your-registrations\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Lobbyists: Start your registrations&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4037,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8127,368,8126,992,8125,1463,2452,6378,416,22085,19],"class_list":["post-2763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-416-338-5858","tag-architect","tag-click-here","tag-consultant","tag-consultant-lobbyist","tag-lawyer","tag-lobbyist","tag-lobbyist-registrar","tag-pdf","tag-politics","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lobbyists: Start your registrations - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/02\/07\/lobbyists-start-your-registrations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lobbyists: Start your registrations - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than four years after Mayor David Miller instructed staff to begin drafting legislation for the first municipal lobbyist registry in Canada, it&#8217;s finally here. 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