Gerry Chipeur wrote “Federal Lobbying and Undue Influence Rules,” to identify the rules and definitions that lobbyists and public officials should keep in mind through communications.
On July 25, 2022, the Federal Court of Canada issued its decision in National Council of Canadian Muslims v Canada (Attorney General), 2022 FC 1087 regarding the communication between Justice David Spiro and the University of Toronto (“Spiro Decision”). In the Spiro Decision, Justice Kane found that a Canadian Judicial Council Review Panel noted a substantive distinction between “voicing concern about the publicity that may arise from [a University of Toronto] appointment and actively lobbying against the appointment … .” (paragraphs 41 and 159). Justice Kane determined that this finding was reasonable (paragraph 164).
As explained below, the distinction accepted by Justice Kane between “voicing concern” and “actively lobbying” is not a distinction available to lobbyist governed by the Lobbying Act RSC 1985, c 44 (4th Supp) (“Lobbying Act”).