2017–18 Departmental results report

Table of contents

• Commissioner’s message
• Results at a glance
• Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
  • Raison d’être
  • Mandate and role
• Operating context and key risks
  • Operating context
  • Key risks
• Results: what we achieved
  • Core responsibility
  • Internal Services
• Analysis of trends in spending and human resources
  • Actual expenditures
  • Actual human resources
  • Expenditures by vote
  • Government of Canada spending and activities
  • Financial statements and financial statements highlights
• Supplementary information
• Corporate information
• Supporting information on the Program Inventory
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

Commissioner’s message

I am pleased to table my first Departmental Results Report as Commissioner of Lobbying. I started my seven-year term as Commissioner on December 30, 2017 and I am appreciative of the support I received from the dedicated team of professionals who work in our Office. Most of the achievements in this report occurred under former Commissioner Karen E. Shepherd and I am excited to build upon them going forward.

In July 2018, the Office celebrated its tenth anniversary. This milestone was an opportunity to highlight our achievements and renew our commitment to work with stakeholders in order to enhance awareness and understanding of Canada’s federal lobbying regime.

The Registry of Lobbyist is the primary tool for enabling transparency in lobbying. In 2017-18, there were more than 858,000 pageviews of search results from the registry. Lobbyists also filed a record of more than 23,000 monthly communication reports, of which 94% were on time. This is positive, as I believe that timely information is crucial to transparency.

On the outreach front, I am particularly proud of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner on matters related to education and outreach.

With respect to compliance and enforcement, the Office completed 1,336 compliance verifications and closed 48 files last year. As of March 31, 2018 , 45 files remain open in our caseload as we undertake a thorough review in order to streamline our investigation processes.

The lease for the Office’s current location expires in May 2019 and we are preparing to move to a new location. This project will require resources identified in Budget 2018.

We have also been preparing for the pending legislative review of the Lobbying Act. We will be ready to meet with Parliament when this exercise begins.

I intend to focus on initiatives that offer value-for-money to Canadians and that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our operations. However, the fiscal constraints associated with our small organization cannot be overlooked. Our base budget has remained at $4.5 million since the inception of the Office and allows very little flexibility to reallocate resources and plan for the long term. The Lobbyists Registration System is now 10 years old and important investments are required to ensure it remains current and up to date with rapidly evolving IT standards. I will explore opportunities and, where necessary, make funding requests to ensure that the registration system measures up to Canadians’ needs.

The years ahead will be exciting for our team and it is with great enthusiasm that we take on these priorities. I thank the employees for their welcome as well as their high level of engagement and professionalism.

Nancy Bélanger
Commissioner of Lobbying

Results at a glance

What funds were used?

Actual Spending: $4,771,945

Who was involved?

Actual FTEs: 28

Results highlights

• There were more than 858,000 pageviews of search results from the Registry of Lobbyists in 2017–18.
• The Office completed 1,336 compliance verifications and closed 48 compliance and enforcement files in 2017–18.
• In March 2018, the Office signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner on matters related to education and outreach.

For more information on the Office’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Raison d'être

The Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada is an Agent of Parliament. The Commissioner reports to the Senate and the House of Commons.

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s role is to regulate lobbyists. The Lobbying Act lets Canadians see who is lobbying at the federal level. This helps to increase transparency and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct promotes ethical standards in lobbying.

The President of the Treasury Board tables the Office's Departmental Plan and Departmental Results Report in Parliament.

Mandate and role

The Commissioner of Lobbying is responsible for the administration of the Lobbying Act. The authority of the Commissioner is derived from the Act.

The mandate of the Commissioner is threefold:

• Establish and maintain the Registry of Lobbyists, which contains and makes public the information disclosed by lobbyists;
• Develop and implement educational programs to foster public awareness of the requirements of the Act; and
• Undertake administrative reviews and investigations to ensure compliance with the Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct.

Under the Act, the Commissioner of Lobbying has the authority to grant exemptions to former designated public office holders who are subject to a five-year prohibition on lobbying activities.

The Commissioner reports annually to Parliament on the administration of the Act and the Code. At the end of any investigation, unless it is ceased, the Commissioner is also required to submit a Report on Investigations to Parliament, to present her findings, conclusions, and the reasons for her conclusions.

For more general information about the department, see the “Supplementary information” section of this report.

Operating context and key risks

Operating context

Nancy Bélanger was appointed Commissioner of Lobbying on December 30, 2017 for a seven-year term following three six-month interim extensions to former Commissioner Karen E. Shepherd’s term.

A statutory five-year review of the Lobbying Act is pending. The timing and extent of the review is determined and controlled by Parliament. The Office has been preparing for the review and will participate as required.

An unanticipated court action against the Office resulted in unplanned legal costs of almost $300,000 in 2017–18. These additional costs have been paid through access to a special purpose allotment of $400,000 for litigation. The special purpose allotment is available for fiscal years 2017–18 and 2018–19. It is not a permanent increase to the Office’s budget.

The lease for the Office’s current location expires in May 2019 and we are preparing to move to a new location. This project will require additional resources identified in Budget 2018.

Key risks

An audit IT security risks identified that ongoing development of is necessary to maintain the security of the LRS in order to preserve confidence in the integrity of the information contained in the Registry. The selection of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) as our new service provider to host the LRS in 2015–16 has provided a secure platform that is capable of hosting all the Office’s IM/IT systems and supports development of the LRS.

The integrity of the Registry data and easy access by Canadians are paramount to ensuring the transparency of lobbying activities. The Office reviews and approves lobbyists’ registrations and ensures that the Registry is available with minimum system interruptions. The migration of the LRS platform to the OPC enabled the OCL to begin to address essential development work that previously had to be deferred. This year, the Office completed plans for a major new release that will make the Registry of Lobbyists more mobile-friendly and improve its functionality. In October 2017, a new automated monthly communication verification system was added to the LRS.

Individuals, organizations and corporations may fail to register because they are not aware that the Lobbying Act applies to them. In 2017–18, the Office completed an evaluation of its outreach and education activities and has begun work on implementing the approved recommendations. That evaluation built on previous work that had set out the expected results for the Outreach and Education program, the program logic, and plans for monitoring and evaluation. The planned evaluation of the Registration and Client Services Directorate in 2018–19 will also look into how well the requirements of the Lobbying Act are communicated to lobbyists who are already registered.

An Audit and Evaluation Committee (AEC) was established in 2009 as an independent advisory committee to the Commissioner of Lobbying. The AEC provides objective advice and recommendations to the Commissioner regarding management, control and governance frameworks and processes. The AEC has four scheduled meetings each year with OCL management, and meets on other occasions as required.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility

Ensure transparency and accountability in the lobbying of public office holders in order to contribute to confidence in the integrity of government decision making.

Description

The purpose of the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct is to assure the Canadian public that lobbying is done transparently and with the highest ethical standards with a view to enhancing public confidence and trust in the integrity of government decision making. The mandate of the Commissioner of Lobbying is to establish and maintain the Registry of Lobbyists, develop and implement educational programs to foster awareness about the Act and the Code, and ensure compliance with the Act and the Code.

Results

2017–18 was a transition year as Nancy Bélanger was appointed Commissioner of Lobbying on December 30, 2017 following three interim six-month extensions to former Commissioner Karen E. Shepherd’s term.

This past year, the Office continued to leverage technology to improve client service and increase transparency for Canadians. The Office completed plans for a major new release that will make the Registry of Lobbyists more mobile-friendly and improve its functionality. The Office also began a Web Renewal Process to modernize the website in order to make it more accessible and user-friendly by incorporating plain language and adapting it to mobile devices.

The Office completed 1,336 compliance verifications and closed 48 compliance and enforcement files in 2017–18. Compliance verifications consisted of:

• 1,112 monthly communication report verifications
• 86 compliance assessments to verify whether registrants who were advised of a breach have become compliant with the Act during the subsequent 12 months
• 94 compliance analyses to review and compare information in the Registry with other sources to verify that it is complete and accurate
• 44 advisory letters sent following media monitoring to verify the registration status of individuals, organizations, and corporations that may be lobbying

In October 2017, the Office added a new automated monthly communication verification system to the Lobbyists’ Registration System. The new system increases the speed and efficiency of monthly communication reports verifications. This automated process has a mobile-friendly user interface which makes it easier and less time-consuming for federal officials being lobbied to contribute to transparency by ensuring lobbying activity is reported accurately.

The Office completed the evaluation of the Outreach and Education program and began to implement the approved recommendations to improve its outreach activities and to reduce non-compliance through an integrated approach to increase awareness. A Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner on matters related to education and outreach was signed in March 2018. The first joint activities under the memorandum are a set of webinars planned for fall 2018.

A three-year strategic plan to set priorities for the Office was finalized in March 2018. The three-year plan identifies four key result areas that will guide the priorities going forward. Those are:

• a modern Lobbyists' Registration System
• enhanced outreach and communications to Canadians
• effective compliance and enforcement activities
• an exceptional workplace

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Internal services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are: Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Materiel Services; and Acquisition Services.

Given the mandate of the OCL to develop and implement educational programs to foster public awareness of the requirements of the Lobbying Act, Communications Services are not included in Internal Services, but rather form part of the Outreach and Education program.

Results

In 2016–17, the OCL became one of only seven first-wave adopters of the new Policy on Results. 2017–18 was the first full year of reporting under the Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory.

The Office continues to collaborate with counterparts in the offices of other Agents of Parliament. The Office has a service agreement with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) with respect to hosting IT services. This agreement will continue following the Office’s planned move in May 2019. An ongoing agreement with the Canadian Human Rights Commission provides the Office with necessary services for staffing actions, contracting, and pay management.

In 2017–18, the Office completed an evaluation to assess the effectiveness of its Outreach and Education program and identified a plan to implement the approved recommendations. An evaluation of the Registration and Client Services Directorate is planned for 2018–19.

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Organizational spending trend graph

Actual spending for 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18 corresponds to total expenditures as published in the Public Accounts of Canada. The 2018–19 and 2019–20 planned spending reflects the resources approved through the Main Estimates but does not include the one-time additional resources identified in Budget 2018 to fund the Office move in 2019. The planned spending 2020–21 reflects the currently approved resources.

Over the years, the Office’s reference levels (authorities) have remained stable. However, in December 2017, the Office received access to a special purpose allotment of $400,000 for third party legal fees associated to legal challenges. The Office also received other adjustments made throughout the year mostly related to compensation for signed collective agreements ($86K) and adjustments to Employee Benefits plan ($65K). The special purpose allotment is available for fiscal years 2017–18 and 2018–19 but it is not a permanent increase to the Office’s budget.

The increase ($347K) from the 2017–18 planned spending to the 2017–18 actual spending are due to unplanned legal costs ($272K) due to a court action against the Office. Due to the unexpected court challenge and inherent funding pressures many projects were set aside to cash manage the potential shortfall. Once the funding was secured, OCL restarted the projects that had been set aside. In addition, during the Commissioner’s transition period key positions remained vacant. The increase in Internal Services ($142K) during the last quarter of the fiscal year were investment in its IT infrastructure.

The 2018–19 planned spending does not include any extraordinary legal costs that may be covered through the special purpose allotment. The Office’s move in 2019 will require additional resources identified in Budget 2018. As such, planned spending for 2018–19 and 2019–20 reflects the approved resources which have remained constant.

Actual human resources

The Office’s staffing level has remained constant at 28 employees for the last few years. The human resources level for 2018–19 and 2019–20 reflects the approved resources which have remained constant.

Expenditure by vote

For information on the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2017-2018.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s financial statements (audited) for the year ended March 31, 2018, are available.

Financial statements highlights

In 2017–18 expenditures in professional and special services actual increased spending by $101,601. Overall, there was a 0.2% increase in actual expenses from 2016–17 to 2017–18.

The Office’s salaries and employee benefits actual spending decreased by $194,968 and represented 59% of total expenditures. Professional and special services expenses represented 25% of total expenditures. The amortization of tangible capital assets, such as the Lobbyists Registration System, represented 4% of total expenditures. The remaining expenses are for accommodation and other expenses.

The increase in total net liabilities is mainly attributable to an increase in Accounts payable and accrued liabilities even though there was a significant decrease in employee future benefits. The increase in total net financial assets is mainly attributable to an increase in the Due from Consolidated Revenue Fund. The increase in total non-financial assets is due to an increase in tangible capital assets.

Supplementary information

Corporate information

Deputy Head: Nancy Bélanger
Enabling Instrument: Lobbying Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. 44(4^th Supp.)
Year of Incorporation: 2006
Other: The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying supports the Commissioner of Lobbying, who is an independent Agent of Parliament. For administrative purposes, the President of the Treasury Board is responsible for tabling in Parliament the Office's Departmental Plan and Departmental Results Report.

Reporting framework

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2017–18 are shown below.

Core responsibility: Ensure transparency and accountability in the lobbying of public office holders in order to contribute to confidence in the integrity of government decision making

• Program A: Registry of Lobbyists
• Program B: Outreach and Education
• Program C: Compliance and Enforcement Internal Service

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Office of the Commissioner or Lobbying’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available:

• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
• Evaluations
• Internal audits
• Response to parliamentary committees and external audits

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

• Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
• Tel: 613-957-2760
• Fax: 613-957-3078
• Email: info@lobbycanada.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Core Responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a Core Responsibility are reflected in one or more related Departmental Results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (Plan ministériel)

Provides information on the plans and expected performance of appropriated departments over a three year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Departmental Result (résultat ministériel)

A Departmental Result represents the change or changes that the department seeks to influence. A Departmental Result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

Departmental Result Indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a Departmental Result.

Departmental Results Framework (cadre ministériel des résultats) )

Consists of the department’s Core Responsibilities, Departmental Results and Departmental Result Indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

Provides information on the actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

evaluation (évaluation)

In the Government of Canada, the systematic and neutral collection and analysis of evidence to judge merit, worth or value. Evaluation informs decision making, improvements, innovation and accountability. Evaluations typically focus on programs, policies and priorities and examine questions related to relevance, effectiveness and efficiency. Depending on user needs, however, evaluations can also examine other units, themes and issues, including alternatives to existing interventions. Evaluations generally employ social science research methods.

experimentation (expérimentation)

Activities that seek to explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies, interventions and approaches, to inform evidence-based decision-making, by learning what works and what does not.

full time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. Full time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

For the purpose of the 2016–17 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada's Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2016–17 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada's Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

horizontal initiatives (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations, through an approved funding agreement, work toward achieving clearly defined shared outcomes, and which has been designated (for example, by Cabinet or a central agency) as a horizontal initiative for managing and reporting purposes

non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts that receive Treasury Board approval by February 1. Therefore, planned spending may include amounts incremental to planned expenditures presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

priority (priorité)

Plans or projects that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s).

Program (programme)

A group of related resource inputs and activities that are managed to meet specific needs and to achieve intended results and that are treated as a budgetary unit.

Program Inventory (répertoire des programmes)

A structured inventory of an organization’s programs depicting the hierarchical relationship between programs and the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute.

result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

sunset program (programme temporisé)

A time limited program that does not have an ongoing funding and policy authority. When the program is set to expire, a decision must be made whether to continue the program. In the case of a renewal, the decision specifies the scope, funding level and duration.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.