CLOSE THE LOOPHOLES
Delivered nearly five years after Premier Brad Wall promised to provide Saskatchewan residents with a transparency and accountability tool that’s long been available to most other Canadians, the online lobbyist registry activated this week is a missed opportunity to lead the country by tightening gaps identified elsewhere.
Certainly, as noted by lawyer Guy Giorno, an expert in the field who has advocated for Saskatchewan to adopt a registry since 2011, this province now has among some of Canada’s strongest enforcement measures and conflict of interest rules for lobbyists.
However, the exemptions weaken the registry’s intent of providing citizens with a clear picture of the influences that come to bear on decisions made by politicians or senior bureaucrats.
Consider the 100-hour threshold for exempting “in house” lobbyists — they can be CEOs, employees or even directors — whose phone calls or emails to any public official lobbying for anything from a subsidy on a multimillion-dollar project to changes to labour law or environmental regulations don’t have to be disclosed as long these efforts don’t exceed the time limit.
So, while the requirement to report even lobbying that takes the form of a conversation over a cup of coffee or a chat during a round of golf conveys the impression of strict accountability, the reality could be far different depending on who is doing the lobbying. In fact, this provision could well leave out of the registry about half the lobbying that occurs annually.
It’s also tough to understand why lobbying by most non-profit groups is exempt, when the public is bound to be affected by any resulting changes to government policy. Although there’s nothing nefarious about citizens, groups or businesses pitching proposals to public officials that would serve their own interests — it is their democratic right — what’s not so palatable is when it’s done in secret. Although the government notes that organizations such as Saskatchewan’s urban municipalities association, the association of rural municipalities, school boards association and universities are exempt because these groups are legislatively required to make their discussions with government officials transparent to the public, including them surely would enhance clarity and accountability when the information can be readily gleaned from the lobbying registry. When it comes to issues such as rural politicians lobbying ministers to turn over Crown or protected land to farmers, society in general benefits from wide disclosure.
Saskatchewan has made a good start with the registry, but there needs to be provisions that require a mandatory periodic review of the legislation to ensure that it doesn’t become outdated, as happened with our access to information laws over decades.