Ontario Lobbyist Registration Changes May Impact Non-Profits and Charities
Kate Lazier, Toronto
On July 25, 2012,
the Ontario government announced its plan to amend the Lobbyists Registration Act to ensure greater transparency and
accountability among lobbyists, government and the public. The government plans to introduce a bill when
legislature resumes in the fall to enhance the existing Lobbyists Registration Act by:
- giving
the Integrity Commissioner more enforcement powers, including the ability to
prohibit individuals from lobbying;
- giving
the Integrity Commissioner new investigative powers, including the ability to
compel testimony and obtain key documents;
- requiring
lobbyists to identify the specific Members of Provincial Parliament and
ministers' offices they lobby;
- preventing
lobbyists from accepting additional fees for preferred outcomes;
- pohibiting
lobbyists from providing paid advice to a ministry and lobbying on the same
subject matter;
- providing
the Integrity Commissioner with the ability to establish a lobbyist code of
conduct; and
- incorporating
for-profit and not-for-profit organizations under the same category of
'in-house' lobbyists; treating both classes of lobbyists the same and capturing
more lobbying activity.
The Office of the Integrity Commissioner issued a report in May 2012
recommending these changes. The report noted that the two categories of
in-house lobbyists is unnecessarily confusing and does not promote maximum
transparency. All jurisdictions, except Nova Scotia, require a single
registration for each for-profit (and not-for-profit) entity engaged in
lobbying.
An in-house lobbyist is an employee who spends a significant part of
his/her duties lobbying for the employer.
The Lobbyist Registration Act
has separate classifications for in-house lobbyists for commercial entities and
those for non-commercial entities such as charities and non-profits. Currently, all in-house lobbyists employed by
not-for-profit entities register together in a single return and the "significant part of duties" test is calculated using an aggregate of all time
spent by all in-house lobbyists at the non-profit or charity.
As single registration per organization (rather than a
registration from each employee) is the norm in most provinces, we expect that
this requirement will not change for non-profits and charities. However, when the categories are merged,
there may be changes to the way lobbyists are defined and to the reporting
requirements. The lobbyist code of conduct could also impact charities and
non-profits. Therefore, charities and non-profits engaged in lobbying in
Ontario should stay tuned for these changes.
The
lawyers in Miller Thomson’s charity and Not-For-Profit Group can assist
organizations to assess whether they need to register under the provincial or
federal lobbying rules.
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