Departmental results report 2023-24

Results at a glance

This report describes results achieved in relation to the priorities, plans and associated costs outlined in our 2023-24 departmental plan.

Key priorities

Our top priorities for 2023-24 supported good governance and trust in government institutions.

Ultimately, we continuously strengthen lobbying regulation by:

• maintaining and enhancing the Registry of Lobbyists, the searchable source of information related to regulated lobbying filed in accordance with the Lobbying Act
• providing registration support and sharing appropriate advice with stakeholders
• ensuring stakeholders have access to clear guidance
• expanding awareness and understanding of the lobbying regime and compliance obligations through education
• verifying that registrants, lobbyists and former designated officials are compliant with federal lobbying requirements
• conducting investigations when necessary to determine whether the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct are respected
• sharing our regulatory expertise with Canadians, parliamentarians and regulatory peers (domestic and international) to foster common and effective lobbying standards at all levels

In addition, we focus on maintaining a work environment that enables excellence and that delivers value to Canadians. We nurture collaboration, innovation and respect and support our team in being knowledgeable, skilled, engaged and productive.

Highlights for 2023-24

Total actual spending in 2023-24 was $5.77 million. Approximately 73% of this spending funded the equivalent of 29 employees who work on our mandate and the delivery of internal services.

Our sole core responsibility — the regulation of lobbying — supports our strategic organizational results, which are as follows:

• lobbyists, registrants, federal officials and the public understand the federal lobbying regime
• registrants report regulated lobbying in the Registry of Lobbyists as required by the Lobbying Act
• regulated individuals respect federal lobbying requirements

To fulfill this core responsibility, we spent $4.09 million (about 71%) of our total budget on a single unified program focused on registration, education and compliance. 

Approximately 85% of the money spent on our core responsibility went towards salaries and benefits for the equivalent of 23 employees to deliver our program. These employees work directly on the Registry of Lobbyists, registration support, education and compliance.

More detailed information is available in the Spending and human resources section. 

Further results information is available in the Regulation of lobbying section.

Message from the Commissioner

September 2024 marks 35 years of Canada's federal lobbying regime. 

In 2023-24 there were around 5,800 active registrations at any one time and nearly 9,000 lobbyists listed in the Registry of Lobbyists.

During its first two decades, the Lobbying Act evolved considerably. Transparency requirements were expanded a number of times between the mid-1990s and 2008. The legal obligation to follow ethical rules when lobbying federal officials was added in 1996. Rigorous transparency requirements and ethical behaviour standards contribute to a healthy democracy.

The Lobbying Act and its regulations have not been updated in over 16 years. Meanwhile, other jurisdictions have and continue to explore, amend or introduce modern lobbying standards.  

It is important that Parliament review and make legislative changes so that our federal lobbying regime can be the best of its kind and remain effective.

My team and I continue to explore possible legislative and regulatory improvements. I plan to share revised recommendations later this year to support parliamentarians in developing updates to the Lobbying Act.

In my seventh year as Commissioner of Lobbying, I reflect on what we have accomplished in administering the Lobbying Act since 2018. To name just a few key items:

• the Registry of Lobbyists has been frequently improved with new features and search refinements, with a focus on making the system easier to use and enhancing transparency
• the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct has been updated using plain, clear and accessible language.
• our website was renewed to offer more helpful information, such as our brief overview of lobbying regulated at the federal level
• numerous investigations were performed to ensure compliance with federal lobbying requirements — leading to 16 referrals of suspected legal offences to policing authorities and the submission of 6 investigation reports to Parliament

Looking beyond 2023-24, I note that our budget has been modestly increased in recent years to enable our team to grow from 28 to 37 positions. 

This additional resourcing was essential given the ongoing annual increases in the number of lobbyists and volume of lobbying as well as the increased demands of federal accountability measures. As a minimally resourced micro-organization, I recognized the challenge of fulfilling both our mandate and the same organizational accountability reporting obligations as government departments many times our size with the original resourcing levels set in 2008.

Through the careful and responsible management of our limited resources, we have delivered on our mandate to enable transparent and ethical lobbying. The team that supports me is dedicated and truly delivers value and excellence. I could not be more thankful.

I am pleased to present this report, which provides information about our mandate and our 2023-24 results.

Nancy Bélanger

Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada

October 2024

Regulation of lobbying

Reflecting our mandate set by the Lobbying Act, we organize our main work around a single core responsibility delivered through one program:

Description

The federal lobbying regime sets requirements and standards for the transparent and ethical lobbying of federal officials. The Commissioner of Lobbying with the support of the Office administers the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct.

Our primary responsibilities include:

• maintaining and enhancing the Registry of Lobbyists
• expanding awareness and understanding of the lobbying regime and compliance obligations through education
• conducting compliance work that supports respect of federal lobbying requirements

Results and targets

These tables show indicators and results – actual and planned – for each of our three result areas.

* Using existing data, the values in square brackets represent what the result would have been if the indicator had been effective before April 1, 2023. These illustrative values do not appear in GC InfoBase.

* Over-reporting of information remained a significant inaccuracy identified in the 1,511 communication reports reviewed during 2023-24. Compared to previous years, no significant difference in the accuracy rate was observed.

* New indicator effective April 1, 2023.

Detailed results and performance information for our program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Details on results

Registration

We maintain and continuously improve the Registry of Lobbyists — the searchable source of information about lobbying activities reported by registrants as required by the Lobbying Act. Through the online Registry, the public can learn about lobbying taking place at the federal level.

Education

Awareness and understanding of the federal lobbying regime and compliance obligations are expanded by publishing educational material and providing information sessions.

Lobbyists, registrants, federal officials and other stakeholders are offered ongoing support and advice – including on how to use the Registry and how to comply with the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct.

Compliance

We enhance respect for federal lobbying requirements through our compliance work, such as verifications to ensure that registrants file information correctly and on time.

Concerns about non-compliance are addressed and we investigate when the Commissioner believes it is necessary to ensure compliance with the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct; if the Commissioner discovers reasonable grounds to believe an offence has occurred, the matter is referred to the appropriate police authority. At the conclusion of an investigation, findings are reported to Parliament.

Key risks

We are committed to delivering on our mandate to support ethical and transparent lobbying of federal officials while also meeting important organizational obligations. 

With the evolution and growth of federal accountability measures, our capacity becomes more constrained to deliver both our mandate and the same organizational expectations and accountability reporting as government departments many times our size.

Depth of capacity is the primary risk for our organization. While somewhat mitigated by the modest increases to our funding levels in Budget 2021 and Budget 2023, as a small organization our ability to reallocate resources is limited. This raises the risk of failure or delays in key areas such as education, policy, and communications. Similar challenges may develop when we face an increase in the volume or complexity of compliance matters.

Because we do not have the levels of financial resources or the depth of human resources comparable to those of other federal organizations, the unavoidable allocation of program resources to meet organizational accountability measures puts into risk our ability to adequately fulfill our core responsibility.

Other ongoing organizational risks relate to adequately maintaining the Registry of Lobbyists, safeguarding the cybersecurity of our systems, relying on other organizations to obtain services that we cannot deliver ourselves because of our small size and minimal resourcing levels, and continuously ensuring the appropriate running of our information technology and information management systems. 

Resources allocated

In 2023-24, $125,000 (3%) of core responsibility spending was on services obtained from our federal partners and $508,000 (12%) was spent on the purchase of goods and professional services. The remaining $3,458,000 (85%) funded 23 employee positions working directly on the Registry of Lobbyists, registration support, education and compliance.

Detailed financial information and human resources information is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

Stakeholders providing feedback on our educational sessions are routinely invited to provide GBA Plus information on a voluntary basis. Analysis of this data informs changes to improve the inclusiveness and accessibility of our services and educational resources.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

We align with the United Nations’ sustainable development goal on peace, justice and strong institutions (Goal 16). We are committed to sharing our expertise in lobbying regulation with provincial and international counterparts to help foster effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

In 2023-24, this work included:

• in May 2023, participation by the Commissioner in a session titled Reinforcing democracy: The role of integrity amongst elected and appointed officials at the 2023 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum
• in September 2023 and again in February 2024, taking part in meetings of the Lobbyists Registrars and Commissioners Network to discuss best practices and share updates with other Canadian commissioners and registrars on our respective regimes
• in November 2023, meeting a European Parliament delegation visiting Ottawa to share our experience administering Canada’s federal lobbying regime followed by the Commissioner appearing virtually before the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee to share information about the Canadian regulatory experience    
• in December 2023, presenting three sessions at the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws conference held in Kansas City, Missouri — including an update on developments in the Canadian lobbying landscape
• contributing to a number of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects, including on public integrity indicators, its Trusted Dialogue on Getting Influence Right initiative and the renewal of its Recommendation on Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying

Conversations with Canadian and international peers enable the sharing of information on legislation and best practices for lobbying regulation. Common goals of transparency and accountability in the principles of lobbying registration and compliance support the development of open standards that can strengthen democratic systems.

Program inventory

Our core responsibility is supported by our one and only program: Registration, education and compliance.

Additional results information related to our program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Internal services

Our ability to deliver on our mandate and fulfill corporate obligations relies on a number of internal services, the majority of which we obtain through paid arrangements with other federal organizations.

Description

As a micro-organization operating with a limited budget, we rely on and pay for a number of services we obtain from federal partners. Our service providers include Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Parole Board of Canada and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Reflecting our operational reality, our internal services include:

Unlike most federal organizations, we allocate communications, legal and a substantial portion of information technology resources directly to our core responsibility. These particular resources are necessary to fulfill our mandate set by the Lobbying Act, and are used to maintain the Registry of Lobbyists, deliver educational services and review compliance with lobbying requirements.

Details on results

Our team and work environment enables excellence and delivers value to Canadians through collaboration, innovation and respect. We support our employees in being knowledgeable, skilled, engaged and productive.

Resources allocated

In 2023-24, $557,000 (33%) of internal services spending was on services obtained from our federal partners and $381,000 (23%) on the purchase of goods and professional services. The remaining $737,000 (44%) funded 6 employee positions mainly related to acquisition, finance, information management, information technology, and management/oversight functions.

Detailed financial information and human resources information is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Accessibility

The Government of Canada aspires to have a public service that is accessible by default for the Canadian public, government institutions and their workforce. This is rooted in the belief that an inclusive public service is more innovative, efficient and productive.

We recognize the importance of eliminating barriers and obstacles to accessibility in order to achieve a diverse workforce, an accessible work environment and an equitable approach to working with Canadians.

Our 2023 progress report outlines work done in 2023-24 in support of our accessibility plan. 

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

The Government of Canada is committed to economic reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and will contribute to improve socio-economic outcomes by increasing opportunities for First Nations, Inuit and Métis businesses through the federal procurement process.

Our organization is identified as a phase 3 contributor to the Government’s commitment and target that a minimum of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses annually, in accordance with Appendix E to the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Procurement.

In advance of our phase 3 contributor target to have at least 5% off all contracts awarded to Indigenous business in fiscal year 2024-25, the value we awarded contracts to Indigenous businesses in 2023 24 was nearly 10%.

Table 7 includes the value of all contracts awarded, instead of the amounts spent. While the value of all contracts awarded in 2023-24 was $963,000, actual expenditures were $889,000 ($508,000 on our core responsibility and $381,000 on internal services).

Sustainable development

In keeping with the purpose of the Federal Sustainable Development Act – to make decision making related to sustainable development more transparent and accountable to Parliament – we support goals laid out in the 2022 to 2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy through the activities described in our sustainable development strategy.

Our sustainable development vision focuses on actions within our reach and directly in line with our commitments under goals 10, 12 and 13 of the federal strategy. Our strategy is centred on effective actions that we can achieve alongside our regulatory mandate as set by the Lobbying Act.

Spending and human resources

The information that follows provides an overview of our financial and human resources for 2023-24 compared with those of previous years and the upcoming fiscal years.

Amounts indicated in tables and the related explanations are in dollars rounded to the nearest thousand.

Spending

Actual spending in 2023-24

Budgetary performance summary

The expenditures over the past three years shown below are based on the Public Accounts of Canada published by the Receiver General for Canada.

Relative to 2021-22, spending in 2022-23 increased by $566,000 (12%). For 2023-24, spending increased by $547,000 (10%) relative to actual spending in 2022-23. The 2023-24 increase reflects progress made on staffing and salary expenses given new collective agreements negotiated after the 2023-24 planning period.

Relative to the years before 2021-22, the increases in spending shown in the table were enabled by new funding provided in Budget 2021 and Budget 2023.

More financial information from previous years is available on GC InfoBase. 

* To avoid misstating the totals in table 8B, actual spending for 2023-24 is stated as $4,092,000 ($4,091,000 would otherwise be the standard rounding of the full amount of $4,091,405).

Budgetary planning

The amounts below are based on Main Estimates published by the President of the Treasury Board and reflect planned spending for upcoming years.

Relative to actual spending in recent years, planned spending for 2024-25 and ongoing years includes allocations from Budget 2023 that enable funding of 4 new positions to strengthen our educational and accountability functions.

Planned spending for 2024-25 includes an allowed carryforward of up to 5% of unspent operating funds (which excludes employee benefit plan funding) from 2023-24. This accounts for an additional $242,000 in spending along with the $5,956,000 allocated in the 2024-25 Main Estimates.

More financial information from previous years is available on GC InfoBase.

Funding

Actual and approved spending, 2021-22 to 2026-27

The following graph shows actual spending between 2021-22 and 2023-24 and planned spending for 2024-25 and future years.

In recent years, our planned and actual spending levels have varied due to adjustments that include:

• allocation in Budget 2021 of additional funds of $556,000 for 2021-22 and $590,000 for 2022 23 and future years
• allocation in Budget 2023 of additional funds of $278,000 for 2023-24 and $400,000 for 2024 25 and future years
• for 2024-25, the inclusion of a carryforward of $242,000 of unused funds from 2023 24
• lower actual spending than allowed by authorities in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 because we could not staff some positions despite ongoing staffing efforts
• higher spending in 2023-24 compared to previous years reflects progress made on staffing new positions

Further information on our organizational voted and statutory expenditures is available in the Public Accounts of Canada.

Financial information

Financial statements

Our audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2024 are prepared using the Government of Canada's accounting policies. The Office of the Auditor General of Canada audits our financial statements annually.

Highlights

Planned financial results information for 2023-24 and related notes are found in our 2023-24 future-oriented statement of operations.

Information in the following 3 tables is extracted from our audited financial statements, which are prepared on an accrual basis of accounting instead of on a government funding basis of accounting. Note 3 to our audited financial statements provides a reconciliation of the differences.

The amounts above summarize the net cost of our operations for 2023-24 before government funding and transfers. The difference of $268,000 (4%) relates mainly to increased salary expenses given new collective agreements negotiated after the 2023-24 planning period. 

Actual spending for 2023-24 compared with 2022-23 increased by 14%. The increase relates mainly to progress on staffing existing and new positions as well as increased salary expenses given new collective agreements.

Table 10C provides a snapshot of our liabilities (what is owed) and assets (what is owned) in 2023-24 and 2022 23. 

The increase in total net liabilities relates to having more unpaid expenditures, including higher salary expenses given new collective agreements. The increase in total net financial assets relates to amounts due from the consolidated revenue fund to pay for salaries.

The normal amortization of existing assets and the acquisition of new assets reflect the decrease in total non financial assets.

Human resources

Actual human resources

Numbers below for previous years reflect past results reports tabled in Parliament. The number for 2023-24 is based on actual staffing as of 31 March 2024.

In 2020-21, we were resourced for 28 positions. Budget 2021 increased this to 33 positions and by the end of 2021-22, our actual utilization was equivalent to 26 positions.

With labour market conditions and competition for specialized resources, staffing efforts continued to prove challenging in 2022-23 and 2023-24. While new employees were hired in 2023-24 to fill positions enabled by Budget 2021, overall resourcing levels were offset by staff on planned extended leave. For the 33 positions we planned for 2023-24, our actual utilization was 29 positions by the end of the year.

Staffing and recruitment are a continuous top priority for management. As a micro-organization that is minimally resourced and that faces depth-of-capacity challenges, every departure and unfilled position has a real impact on our ability to fulfill our core responsibility and deliver on the wide range of organizational responsibilities that apply to all government departments, regardless of department size or resourcing.

Planned human resources

The numbers below reflect allocations made based on funding levels outlined in the 2024 25 Main Estimates published by the President of the Treasury Board.

Effective April 2024, we are resourced to staff 37 positions. This 11% increase compared to 33 planned positions in 2023-24 is enabled by new authorities allocated in Budget 2023. The 4 new positions will strengthen our educational and accountability functions.

Additional information

Organizational profile

Contact information

Supplementary information

Information tables:

• Gender-based analysis plus
• Responses to Parliamentary committees and external audits

Sustainable development vision, commitments and actions:

• Sustainable development strategy 2023 to 2027

Federal tax expenditures

This report does not include information on tax expenditures.

The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government-wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. It provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.

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