REGIONAL VIEWPOINT: Province’s lobbying law requires modernization

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/04/2023 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s Lobbyist Registration Act (MLRA) was passed in 2008 and came into force in 2012. Since then, the number of lobbyists has increased and the techniques of lobbying have become more varied.

During the same period, public expectations regarding the need for transparency, ethical conduct and accountability within the governing process have risen dramatically.

These changed circumstances mean that the MLRA is outdated and weak, especially compared with more contemporary lobbying regulation frameworks elsewhere. It is past time for the act to be modernized.

The MLRA is appropriately based on the principle that communication with public officials is essential to the operation of representative government. Both politicians and public servants need to hear ideas and concerns from different segments of society. This principle must be balanced, however, by rules to discourage improper behaviour and undue influence by lobbyists.

The act relies mainly on transparency in the form of mandatory reporting in an online registry of the attempts by lobbyists to influence public-sector policy formulation and decision-making.

Both organizational (in-house) and consultant (for hire) lobbyists are required to report on the targets of their lobbying efforts. With respect to the subject matter of lobbying, the information provided in the registry is often so general that it does not reveal the specific matters (bills, programs, budgets, contracts, etc.) being discussed with public officials.

Few citizens are aware of the registry and it is not user-friendly, so the presumed benefits of transparency are limited.

Effective regulation of lobbying, therefore, must go beyond transparency to include meaningful constraints that are enforced by the lobbyist registrar, who is an independent officer of the legislature.

Currently, the registrar can only verify the information submitted by lobbyists and refuse to accept a filing if it contains inaccurate or incomplete information. He has no enforcement power.

In theory, citizen complaints about improper lobbying can be investigated by the police and offences can be prosecuted through the courts, potentially leading to fines up to $25,000. In practice, no lobbyist has ever been charged through this process.

The issue of who qualifies as a lobbyist, whether the law should cover more than the existing two categories of lobbyists, and whether restrictions should be stricter for certain categories of lobbyists, are all matters requiring review.

Now, in-house lobbyists must register only if their cumulative lobbying activities exceed 100 hours annually, a threshold that in a smaller jurisdiction like Manitoba would seldom be met.

In contrast, consultant lobbyists represent multiple clients for a fee, which could create an incentive for improper conduct. Recognizing this, other jurisdictions prohibit contingency fees, which are paid to consultant lobbyists only when their lobbying attempts are successful.

Currently, lobbyists representing non-profit organizations are not required to register. Generally such organizations represent less risk of improper conduct than for-hire lobbyists, but they should not receive a blanket exemption from the law.

“Grassroots lobbying” refers to organized attempts to shape public opinion and to motivate citizens to contact public officials to promote certain causes. The rise of social media has facilitated this newer form of lobbying by interest groups and political action committees. Any approach to regulating grassroots lobbying must not discourage old-fashioned citizen protests.

The registrar needs authority to initiate investigations of problematic lobbyist behaviour, not just to respond to complaints. As it stands, taking lobbyists to court is the only way to deal with violations of the law. There needs to be a continuum of potential penalties, such as a temporary suspension of the right to lobby and the imposition by the registrar of administrative monetary fines.

Adoption of a lobbyist code of conduct would cover some of the grey areas that cannot be fully prescribed by the law. A code would provide the registrar with leverage in dealing with lobbyists and promote voluntary compliance within the lobbying profession.

Even with recent expansion, Manitoba’s lobbying community remains relatively small and its activity is episodic in nature. Therefore, when modernizing the law, care must be taken to avoid creation of an excessively complicated and confusing framework of rules and related procedures.

I recommend all parties competing in the next election commit to a review and strengthening of the lobbying law. That review should be conducted by an all-party committee of the legislature. A discussion paper setting forth reform options should provide a basis for submissions to the committee. The work of the committee should be supported by the Lobbyist Registrar.

Such a process would demonstrate the potential for cross-party co-operation, engage backbench MLAs in a meaningful task, have educational value and, one hopes, would result in a more effective lobbying law.

» Paul G. Thomas is professor emeritus of political studies at the University of Manitoba. This column was previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press.