Another minority Parliament in Ottawa combined with the implications of the international financial situation will undoubtedly give rise to new policy directions on a range of issues. This is a critical time for businesses to review their government relations strategies with regard to economic, regulatory and other policy matters that may affect their interests, as well as to make their views on these matters known to government policy-makers. At the same time, it is essential that corporations be familiar with the recent changes to Canada's federal lobbying rules as of July 2, 2008. These new rules, adopted pursuant to the Accountability Act in December 2006, have made the regulatory framework for lobbying the federal government considerably more onerous than before.
Corporate representatives engaged in lobbying federal officials must now be mindful of the titles and roles of the officials with whom they communicate and the types of communication conducted. Corporations that have previously been required to make bi-annual filings as a result of their lobbying activities will now also have to make monthly reports if they engage in prescribed communications with certain specified senior government officials, or “designated public office holders”.
The following provides a brief description of the new rules with respect to lobbying the Canadian federal government by corporate officers and employees.
Communications by corporate employees with federal public office holders on behalf of the corporation and in relation to (i) the adoption or modification of federal legislative proposals, laws, regulations, policies or programs, or (ii) any grant, contribution or other financial benefit, are considered to be lobbying for the purposes of the Lobbying Act.
The definition of “public office holder” is broad and includes all officers and employees of the federal government, Senators and Members of Parliament, persons appointed to any government office or body, officers, directors or employees of any federal board, commission or tribunal, and members of the Canadian Armed Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The chief executive officer of a corporation is responsible for ensuring that the corporation files prescribed returns with the Commissioner of Lobbying if one or more employees of the corporation engage in lobbying activities that would constitute a “significant part” of an employee's duties if they were performed by one employee. The “significant part” threshold is deemed by the Commissioner to be 20 percent of a full-time employee's duties. The reporting obligation can therefore be triggered where several employees each engage in a relatively small amount of lobbying and those activities cross the “significant part” threshold in the aggregate.
The basic corporate lobbying return provides general information about the corporation, the subject matter and particulars of its lobbying activities. The return must be renewed every six months or updated more frequently where there has been a change in the information in the return. Returns are publicly available through the Internet.
The new rules that came into force on July 2, 2008, also require the filing of monthly returns if corporate lobbyists engage in pre-arranged oral communications with a designated public office holder, or DPOH. DPOHs are key decision makers within government and include Ministers, Ministers of State and their staff, Deputy Ministers, Associate Deputy Ministers and Assistant Deputy Ministers and other high-level officials in the Canadian Forces and the government designated by regulation.
Monthly returns with respect to DPOH communications must identify the name, title or rank, and the federal government institution of the DPOH, the subject matter of the communication and the date on which the communication took place.
The Commissioner is a newly-established independent officer of Parliament who replaces the former Registrar of Lobbyists and who has expanded authority to enforce the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct. The Commissioner has broad investigative powers and may require any person or former DPOH to verify information contained in a monthly return.
Other important changes to the federal lobbying rules, with respect to both in-house and consultant lobbyists, include: