Mayor Cam Guthrie hopes the proposed municipal lobbyist registry, which received initial approval on Wednesday, isn't used as a "political hammer” but rather a means of encouraging discussion about issues people are passionate about.
Meeting as the committee of the whole, council unanimously voted in favour of creating a lobbyist registry. Council will consider formally ratifying that decision later this month.
Such a registry, if ultimately approved, would require lobbyists to report each time they attempt to influence elected officials or senior city staff. They would have to provide their name, who the lobbyist’s employer is, details about the subject matter, name of the person being lobbied and the date of the lobbying effort.
For those who don’t register there are potential penalties like temporary bans on lobbying.
Is there a responsibility for those who work for the city to come forward when they have been lobbied?
Onus falls both ways. “Even if there is an inkling that any type of engagement in whatever form that may be is in the realm of lobbying or trying to influence for whatever the issue they’re engaging on, there is an onus that it be disclosed,” said Guthrie, when asked the above question in an interview after the meeting.
There are times when councillors and the mayor are approached at events and even at the grocery store, where they may be lobbied.
“The onus is going to have to be on each of us individually to make those calls on how the engagement is happening,” said Guthrie.
There is going to be a learning curve and education on this will be provided before the bylaw, if approved, would take effect in January.
City clerk Stephen O'Brien floated the idea of giving councillors a card with a QR code they can provide people when they feel they're being lobbied, with the code taking people to the lobbyist registration form to be filled out.
During the meeting Guthrie thought this could be a good tool but encouraged staff to get feedback on it from the engagement process.
“This can be used as a political hammer,” Guthrie said of the lobbyist registry. “We can not demonize people for doing their job, or for having the passion about whatever the issue is that they want to engage with us on.”
He noted it's good to raise the bar by elevating transparency and part of democracy is making it easy for a free flow of conversations, opinions on issues and to encourage this.
Coun. Dominique O’Rourke made a point to make sure the registry “doesn't put a chill on communication with government.” It’s important for people to communicate with staff, advocate and find out more information.
“All this does is it allows some more transparency into what happens outside of this chamber,” she said.
The lobbyist registrar is one of the options for accountability and transparency that is brought in place to support and enforce a lobbyist registry bylaw, said O’Brien.
In 2019 there was a report presented about a potential lobbyist registry being implemented but at that time the implementation was limited to larger municipalities, said O’Brien. But since then more councils have implemented a registry.
Previously, O’Rourke didn’t think Guelph needed a registry. Since then her perspective has changed because of the strong mayor powers. The legislation allows the mayor to bring forward a bylaw and it be passed with a third of council or be vetoed, she used as an example.
“I think we need some more transparency in the background in terms of who is speaking to elected officials and we should be held to that same standard,” said O’Rourke.
Coun. Christine Billings asked if other municipalities had a registry that is just for the mayor’s position ”because they're the ones with the power?”
The definition of a public officer goes beyond just the head of council and includes members or council and staff. Because of this we’re not permitted “to narrow it down simply to just the head of council,” O’Brien said.
“I want to be very, very clear that I think that we need to be careful not to conflate the issue of strong mayors with the need for a lobbyist registry,” said Coun. Phil Allt.
He noted that anyone can be lobbied and lobbyists come in all forms.
