The current system for disseminating lobbying in Quebec is not “at the level it should be” and is not able to sufficiently inform citizens about the consequences of its activities, according to Quebec’s lobbying commissioner, Jean-François Routhier.
We need to “integrate the culture of transparency into our law,” which is not currently the case, he says. And to do this, a reform of the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act and a “formal commitment from the government” to table a bill are necessary, says Mr.e Routhier.
The main goal behind this reform proposal? To allow citizens to “see the extent to which influence activities in Quebec have an importance in the daily decisions of the government or the State” in order to counter the “decline in confidence” in public institutions.
What is lobbying?
Currently, the law provides that a lobbying activity must be registered with the Carrefour Lobby Québec, the lobbyists’ registry, only if it meets certain criteria, such as the accomplishment of certain actions. Lobbying activities thus escape the public eye, because they do not cross the thresholds established by the law.
“The CEO of a major corporation can call the prime minister tomorrow morning and try to influence a decision of the cabinet or the prime minister, and no one is going to know, because that person will not have crossed the threshold of the important part [de ses fonctions qui sont consacrées au lobbyisme]. While this decision will be fundamental for the citizens of Quebec,” explains Jean-François Routhier.
The reform he is proposing aims, among other things, to abolish these thresholds.
Concrete changes
In order to provide “useful information” to citizens, the register must go further than simply listing communication intentions, as it currently does. “We have no awareness of what has been achieved or not,” says the Commissioner. Monitoring the communications that are accomplished would be an essential element of a “culture of transparency,” he believes.
The time a lobbyist has to register an activity should also be shortened: it is currently 30 to 60 days, which is “far too long”, according to Mr.e Routhier. He suggests that it be 10 to 15 days so that the public has access to information in time, and not only when lobbying activities have already led to changes.
When the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act was created, “they wanted to target individuals,” says Jean-François Routhier. “However, it is not the individuals who carry out lobbying activities who must be regulated, but their agents and the companies. Responsibility should be assumed by the companies, by the organizations, by the consulting firms — and not by the lobbyists, individually.”
What should be framed above all “are the messages, the communications, and the relevance of the communications,” he specifies.
Lobbying in Quebec also has a “negative connotation,” notes the commissioner. “First of all, the words ending in ‘iste’ don’t have a very good press in Quebec.” That’s why better education about what lobbying is — for both businesses and citizens — is a key element of the reform project proposed by M.e Routhier. “I think that in 10 years, we will have changed the face [du lobbyisme] and the perhaps negative perception that people have of it.”
The latter said he was “hopeful” that his reform proposal would succeed, noting that changes would be made gradually and that some (such as the change in liability) “should be made quickly.” “I think this is the right time,” he added.