(Montreal) Launched a little less than six months ago, the declaration “Lobby: Stop the skids” has already collected 1,270 signatures online and the support of some 200 organizations throughout Quebec, the three organizations rejoiced. origin of the document during a press conference on Sunday.
Among the signatories are the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the David Suzuki Foundation and the Common Front for Energy Transition, they said.
To what extent can the pursuit of profit allow it to influence, to this extent, both the government and the public?
This is one of the questions that concerns the organizations Vigilance OGM, Mon OSBL n’est pas un lobby and Attac Québec. These three groups launched a declaration in November 2023 which aims to raise awareness of the problems surrounding lobbying. They hope to propose changes to the current law governing its practices.
According to them, the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act, adopted in 2002, leads to slippages. “We are talking about slippages in the plural,” said Mercédez Roberge, of the Mon OSBL n’est pas un lobby coalition. Because they exist as much in the lack of supervision of lobbyists seeking profit as in the determination to want to subjugate all [organismes sans but lucratif] “.
The organization Mon OSBL est pas un lobby has been campaigning for more than ten years against the subjection of non-profit organizations (NPOs) to legislation, a long-standing recommendation made among others by the Lobbying Commissioner.
According to the declaration of the three groups, this subjection “would have the effect of considerably increasing the number of registrations in the register, diluting its quality and making the necessary vigilance of the activities of lobbyists more difficult”.
Lobbyisme Québec did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Canadian Press.
Towards a change in the law?
Meeting at the St-Pierre Center in Montreal, the spokespersons held a round table on the future of the declaration, after the press conference, to discuss the next steps.
They want to make changes to the current law, but do not yet have a specific timeline. “There is no immediacy there,” said Claude Vaillancourt, president of Attac Québec. We must take the time to clearly identify the target we want to have and ultimately arrive at the most effective bill possible. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Claude Vaillancourt
They hope in particular to benefit from the experience of ex-politician Louise Harel and jurist Lucie Lamarche, both present at the round table, in order to outline avenues for the future.
According to Mercédez Roberge, one of the next steps would be to strengthen the declaration published in the fall of 2023, so that it becomes an “essential” in terms of lobbying, while ensuring that it is at the heart of the legislative proposals that the group will put forward.
Mme Roberge clarified that it was still possible to sign the “Stop the skids” declaration online.
Lobbying, a “setback” factor
Thibault Rehn, coordinator of Vigilance OGM, gave examples of the influence and effects of lobbying in the world of agriculture, work which according to him is too often in the shadows of the public.
He notably took up the example of the scandal surrounding the agrochemical lobby CropLife Canada and federal civil servants. “Lobbying with multiple slip-ups has a direct influence on our democracy,” he said.
To avoid such situations in the future, Mr. Rehn wanted to recall a request contained in the declaration, namely that lobbyists and people working for a company that could benefit economically from them be excluded from the staff and boards of administration of government agencies.
For the three organizations, the question of lobbying remains a fundamental question of democracy. “This influence of lobbying is often, at this level, a factor of decline, of social stagnation,” indicated Claude Vaillancourt.