Enhancing Transparency: Hamilton lobbyist registry next steps

NRU
April 9, 2014
By Sarah Ratchford

It’s taken seven years and two and a half hours, but a lobbyist registry by-law in Hamilton is about to go to public consultation.

It took Hamilton general issues committee two and a half hours Wednesday before unanimously deciding to send the draft by-law to council for approval tonight. The recommendations also include a 45-day public consultation period before the by-law is comes into effect March 31, 2015.

“Many citizens are curious as to what meetings go on at city hall, and who the councillors are meeting with, who the general managers are dealing with,” Councillor Brian McHattie tells NRU.

“From an accountability and transparency perspective, it’s a positive step.”

As to why it’s taken so long to get off the ground, McHattie says he can’t honestly say. The councillor sat on the now defunct accountability and transparency sub-committee during its first term, which began in 2007, but he says the committee was mostly occupied with installing an integrity commissioner at that point. The bulk of the work on the lobbyist registry by-law came during the following term of council. discussed and it’s hopefully going to be moving ahead [tonight].”

Ward 11 resident and former citizen member of the account-ability and transparency subcommittee David Broom spoke to the general issues committee Monday.

He criticized council for trying to “bury this issue without debate” by neglecting to include the by-law, which was drafted in September, in its most recent budget. He accused council of trying to let the by-law “die a quiet death.” Broom’s suggestion was to take the by-law out for public consultation.

McHattie agreed and included it in his motion, which passed unanimously.

The committee recommends the position of lobbyist registrar be combined with that of the city’s integrity commissioner, at an additional cost of about $22,000 annually. Additionally a policy analyst would need to be hired at $92,000 per year.

There would also be a one-time cost of up to $100,000 to develop a web-based registry.

The final decision on the registry will be made by council following the public consultation period, according to McHattie.

But Councillor Brad Clark says the by-law shouldn’t move ahead so quickly.

“As written, it needs work,” he says. There are some “fatal flaws” in the current draft and the definition of “lobbyist” needs to be made clearer, as well as “issues around non-for-profits.”

Currently, “lobbyist” is defined as “a consultant lobbyist, in-house lobbyist or voluntary unpaid lobbyist,” with further breakdowns of each. Clark said he heard from some councillors that they were concerned the lobbyist registry would prevent input from their constituents, which it doesn’t.

Similarly, he says, there was concern that if a citizen bumped into a councillor on the street and mentioned a particular issue, that could qualify as lobbying, which it, too, does not.

He says the by-law just needs to be written in simpler language. He expects that change will come about following the public consultation process.

Clark says he doesn’t think the by-law will be put into effect as quickly as some are hoping.

“Candidly, I am hard-pressed to see how this would get back and approved by this council before an election.”

McHattie, on the other hand, sees the registry as a necessity when it comes to the public’s perception of Hamilton’s government.

“I believe strongly in open government. The more open we are, the more engaged the public is in democracy, and the more successful we’ll be as a council.”

He says he can’t imagine the passing of the by-law running into any issues at council.

The city already has a registry, but it’s voluntary, and the list of lobbyists who have signed up is quite short as a result.

McMaster University political science associate professor Peter Graefe says the openness factor is important, especially going into an election.

“To me it’s a bit surprising that it’s taken so long in Hamilton [to implement the registry]. At the end of the day, it’s important to know who’s speaking to politicians.“

He says the downside, though, is that just because there’s a greater appearance of transparency, does not guarantee greater accountability on the part of politicians.

“Presumably, at this stage, they’re likely to go through with it. There’s a bit of a cost, but it may be hard, in an election year, to say ‘We’re opposed.’”

Within the GTHA, only Toronto has a lobbyist registry. While discussions have occurred exploring the idea of a registry in Clarington, Brampton, Vaughan and Halton Region, to date no other municipality has implemented a registry.