Lobbying Commissioner of Canada releases a report on investigation related to sponsored travel and makes recommendation to improve transparency of lobbying regime

Ottawa, April 30, 2019 — The Commissioner of Lobbying Canada, Nancy Bélanger, released her first report on investigation titled Sponsored travel provided by lobbyists. The Commissioner is required to table in the House of Commons and the Senate a report following an investigation outlining her findings and conclusions.

The report is the result of 19 investigations conducted in parallel by the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying. It involves 19 corporations and organizations that provided sponsored travel to members of the House of Commons and the Senate between 2009 and 2016.

While the Commissioner found no contraventions of the Lobbying Act or the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct, she noted a gap in transparency of information disclosed in the Registry of Lobbyists related to sponsored travel.

In the report, the Commissioner recommended an amendment to close this gap and improve the overall transparency of the federal lobbying regime. This could be considered by Parliament during the next review of the Lobbying Act or could also be addressed through a review and update of the Lobbyists Registration Regulations.

Quotes

"I observed that lobbyists are not required to disclose that their lobbying occurred during sponsored travel or that they had previously provided sponsored travel to parliamentarians when they report subsequent lobbying in the Registry of Lobbyists."

"The absence of this information could prevent the public from having a more complete understanding of the circumstances in which both public policy is formed and public decision-making takes place."

"Amending disclosure requirements to include additional information that the Commissioner of Lobbying considers relevant would ensure that sponsored travel is captured as part of the context in which lobbying occurred."

Read the investigation report:

• Sponsored travel offered by lobbyists

Related information

• Search the Registry of Lobbyists
• View previous reports on investigation
• Lobbyists' Code of Conduct
• Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner – Public Registry – Sponsored Travel (Code)
• Office of the Senate Ethics Officer – Public Registry

Contacts

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Telephone: 613-952-4306

Email: media@lobbycanada.gc.ca

For general enquiries, please contact:

Telephone: 613-957-2760

Email: info@lobbycanada.gc.ca