Online registry of lobbyists goes live in province

An online registry allowing anyone in the province to search individuals or organizations lobbying public office-holders is now active.

Ronald Barclay, who was named the province’s registrar of lobbyists and also serves as conflict of interest commissioner, says it will provide greater transparency in showing who is attempting to influence the government.

Starting Tuesday, anyone lobbying politicians and civil servants will have to register their activities.

Barclay says that includes lobbyists disclosing each instance they ask for something, even if it’s during a round of golf with a government official.

It has been a long time coming. In 2011, an all-party committee was struck to explore and make recommendations for such a registry.

When Minister of Justice Gordon Wyant got the report, he spent about a year studying it.

Much of that delay, Wyant says, was caused by consultations he wanted to undertake on who should be excluded from registering.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) and universities were the focus of those consultations. The committee recommended those groups should fall under the legislation and register as lobbyists.

When legislation was introduced in 2014 to bring in the registry, they were excluded.

“SARM and SUMA, the reason that we decided to exclude those is because they’re representative groups of government institutions, which are excluded under the act,” said Wyant, noting city councillors or representatives from municipalities do not need to register.

Universities, he added, were excluded because the government is the major source of funding for such institutions and as such, there is a consistent, open dialogue between government officials and the schools.

The act to bring in the registry passed in the spring of 2014, but it has taken this long for the processes and website to be put together.

It’s expected about 400 lobbyists will be publicly searchable by the fall. Starting Tuesday, there is essentially a 30-day grace period to allow lobbyists to figure out whether or not they need to register.

Trent Wotherspoon, Opposition NDP leader, said there are lessons about the registry still to be learned and he hopes the government is willing to change the registry as needed, but “this is a positive first step.”