ARCHIVED - Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada

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Commissioner's Message

I am pleased to present the second Report on Plans and Priorities for the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying. My responsibilities as Commissioner are to provide a readily accessible registry for lobbyists and the public; to develop and implement an education and outreach strategy to enhance awareness of the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct; and to ensure compliance with both.

I believe Canadians deserve a registry that makes lobbying activities conducted at the federal level transparent to everyone. Given this important priority, I will continue to focus our efforts on improving the Registry of Lobbyists to make the system even easier and more dependable for users to register lobbying activities and search for data.

For 2010-2011, my plans include developing and implementing educational programs to provide Canadians with a better understanding of the Lobbying Act. I am committed to ensuring that lobbyists, their clients, public office holders and the Canadian public are fully informed of the requirements of the Lobbying Act. It is my belief that compliance with the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct is best accomplished through education. This is how I see the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying contributing to government-wide objectives. We are providing effective support to Parliament through educating lobbyists and the Canadian public on the rationale and requirements of the Lobbying Act.

While education is important to ensure compliance, alleged breaches of the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct will continue to be dealt with in a serious manner. Alleged transgressions of the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct will continue to be examined and appropriate measures will be taken.

Finally, the Lobbying Act is eligible for its five-year legislative review starting in 2010. I plan to prepare for this review by identifying various issues that could be examined, meeting with stakeholders as needed, and working with Parliament when required to advance the review of the Lobbying Act.

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, as always, is committed to fulfilling Parliament's desire for increased transparency and integrity in the administration of the Lobbying Act. It is in this regard that I respectfully submit our plans for the upcoming year.

Section I - Departmental Overview

1.1 Summary Information

Raison d'être

Responsibilities

The Commissioner of Lobbying is responsible for the administration of the Lobbying Act (the Act). The authority of the Commissioner, who is an independent officer of Parliament, derives from the Act.

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying (OCL) is responsible for the implementation of the Act. The Act provides for the establishment of a Registry of Lobbyists that seeks to improve transparency and accountability regarding communications by lobbyists with public office holders. This contributes to increasing the public's confidence in the integrity of government decision-making.

The primary activities to support the mandate of the OCL are threefold. They are to establish and maintain the Registry of Lobbyists, which contains and makes public the registration information disclosed by lobbyists, as well as their monthly returns regarding communications with designated public office holders; to develop and implement educational programs to foster public awareness of the requirements of the Act; and to ensure compliance with the Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct (the Code).

Under the Act, the Commissioner of Lobbying has the authority to grant exemptions to designated public office holders who are subject to a five-year prohibition on lobbying activities. The Commissioner also has the ability to review allegations that lobbyists have been provided with fees contingent upon the success of their lobbying activities, the payment of which is now prohibited.

The Commissioner reports annually to Parliament on the administration of the Act and the Code and is required to table reports on any investigations conducted in relation to the Code.

Strategic Outcome

In order to effectively pursue its mandate, the OCL aims to achieve the following strategic outcome:

Program Activity Architecture

The Program Activity Architecture (PAA) for the OCL is its basis for reporting to Parliament. The PAA describes the relationship between the activities the OCL undertakes and the strategic outcome it is working to achieve, in order to produce results for Canadians. In addition, the PAA also provides the framework that links the expected results and the performance measures to individual program activities. The PAA clarifies why the OCL does the work it does and it measures the results achieved. Finally, the PAA also serves as a framework to link the financial resources to each program activity, indicating how the OCL manages the resources under its control to achieve its intended outcomes.

1.2 Planning Summary

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013
4,625	4,629	4,629

The Financial Resources table above provides a summary of the total planned spending for the OCL for the next three fiscal years.

Human Resources (Full-time Equivalent - FTE)

2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013
28	28	28

The Human Resources table above provides a summary of the total planned human resources for the OCL for the next three fiscal years.

Strategic Outcome: Transparency and accountability in the lobbying of public office holders contribute to confidence in the integrity of government decision-making.

Performance Indicator	Target
The level of compliance with the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct.	100%

Program Activity[1]	Forecast Spending 2009-2010 ($ thousands)	Planned Spending ($ thousands)			Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
		2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013
Registration of Lobbyists	1,552	1,530	1,531	1,531	An accountable, transparent, and responsive government
Education and Research	1,097	891	892	892	An accountable, transparent, and responsive government
Reviews and Investigations under the Lobbying Act and Lobbyists' Code of Conduct	1,041	1,243	1,245	1,245	An accountable, transparent, and responsive government
Internal Services	884	961	961	961
Total Planned Spending		4,625	4,629	4,629

 

Contribution of Priorities to Program Activities and Strategic Outcome

Operational Priorities	Type	Links to Program Activity	Description
Maintain the Lobbyists Registration System	Ongoing	PA 1	The OCL undertook a major redesign of the Lobbyists Registration System (LRS) to accommodate the increased disclosure requirements of the Lobbying Act. The LRS is an internet-based software application used by lobbyists and registrants to log registrations, updates and renewals. It is also used by lobbyists, public office holders and the public to search for lobbying activities. The redesigned LRS is more streamlined and user-friendly than ever before. The OCL will use a combination of adaptive maintenance, enhanced support material, online multimedia tutorials, training, and frontline assistance to ensure that the operation of the redesigned LRS continues to be as effective as possible.
Promote awareness of the requirements of the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct	Ongoing	PA 2	The OCL will promote awareness of the Lobbying Act to public office holders, designated public office holders, and individuals who may be required to register their activities in order to increase compliance. The Lobbying Act introduced many changes that still need to be explained to various audiences. The OCL will continue developing a comprehensive education and awareness strategy to enhance its current outreach efforts. Maximum use will be made of partnerships and information technology in order to leverage the OCL's outreach capacity.
Pursue enforcement of the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct and communicate the results	Ongoing	PA 3	The OCL will continue to monitor media and other sources of information for indications of illegal or unethical lobbying activity. Outcomes of administrative reviews and investigations will be made public in accordance with the Privacy Act and other applicable legislation, and will be included in educational materials, where appropriate.

Management Priorities	Type	Links to Strategic Outcome	Description
Internal Management	New	SO	The OCL will complete its governance restructuring to better align and strategically manage its corporate functions.
Internal Management	Ongoing	SO	The OCL will streamline and integrate its planning and reporting instruments, including management planning, business planning, and corporate planning and reporting.
Human Resources Renewal	Ongoing	SO	The OCL will increase its organizational learning capacity and improve its adaptation to change, notably, changing demographics. This includes increased efforts to ensure that its workforce reflects the diversity of the Canadian population.

Risk Analysis

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying (OCL) was established when the Lobbying Act (the Act) came into force on July 2, 2008. The Act requires lobbyists to demonstrate transparency and accountability for their lobbying activities by respecting the requirements of the Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct (the Code). Consequently, lobbyists must publicly disclose their activities when lobbying federal public office holders. To this end, the OCL has established and maintained a federal registry of lobbyists and lobbying activities known as the Lobbyists Registration System (LRS).

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying shares the challenges of any federal registry in terms of accuracy and timeliness of disclosure and maintaining and enhancing registrant compliance. The maintenance and enhancement of a registry, such as the LRS, is a very complex undertaking. The Act calls for transparency and accountability in lobbying registration and registrant compliance. To help ensure that this occurs, the OCL will continue to implement ongoing registry upgrades.

As an essential component of the Act, the LRS must be continually available for registrants and other users. Therefore, the OCL minimizes registration delays by preventing system interruptions. The Registry also has a number of built-in failsafe mechanisms to ensure it is continually up and running. In the unlikely event that the Registry does shut down, either intentionally or otherwise, the OCL has processes and systems in place to limit the amount of downtime.

The Act requires that registrants disclose certain communications involving designated public office holders (DPOHs). DPOHs include ministers, ministerial staff, deputy ministers and chief executives of departments, officials in departments at the rank of associate deputy minister or assistant deputy minister, as well as those occupying positions of comparable rank. This reporting requirement is satisfied online without OCL verification. As a result, reporting errors may occur. The OCL continues to educate lobbyists and DPOHs regularly on how to reduce errors, including over-reporting. The OCL has instituted a system to monitor the overall accuracy of monthly communication reports. It has also developed a means for external users to make specific amendments to incorrect monthly communication reports without the need for OCL involvement, thus freeing up resources for other priorities.

To ensure compliance with the Act and the Code, the OCL conducts administrative reviews and investigations. It also reviews applications for exemption from the five-year lobbying prohibition. The Commissioner's decisions with respect to administrative reviews, investigations and applications for exemption may be subject to judicial review in Federal Court. In certain cases, it is possible that judicial review decisions could affect the Commissioner's ability to complete investigations in a timely manner. The OCL conducts reviews and investigations that are fair, thorough and well-documented, which will stand the test of litigation, if required.

The OCL is undergoing a governance restructuring consisting of the creation of a new position, the Deputy Commissioner, as well as a review of the roles and responsibilities of other positions. The Deputy Commissioner will be responsible for consolidated corporate functions to enhance the OCL's effectiveness. As an evolving organization, the OCL is undertaking a number of first-time development initiatives to better prepare itself for forthcoming policy and program challenges. These challenges include an anticipated review of the Act, a possible review of the Code, and an enhancement of the education and outreach mandate.

The OCL is a small department which is dependent on other federal organizations for the provision of certain corporate services, such as information technology, human resources and financial services. Service agreements undertaken with such providers are carefully monitored to ensure that all practices and services are consistent with OCL requirements and standards.

Expenditure Profile

For the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the OCL plans to spend $4.6 million to deliver its mandate and contribute to its strategic outcome.

The figure below illustrates the spending trend for the OCL from 2006-2007 to 2012-2013.

For the 2006-2007 to 2008-2009 periods, the total spending includes all Parliamentary appropriation and revenue sources: Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, and funding received from Treasury Board Central Votes. It also includes carry forward adjustments. For the 2009-2010 to 2012-2013 periods, the total spending corresponds to the planned spending.

In 2007-2008, OCL received additional funding on an ongoing basis to implement the lobbying provisions of the Federal Accountability Act, including significant modifications to the Lobbyists Registration System.

Voted and Statutory Items
(Thousands of dollars)

Vote # or Statutory Item (S)	Truncated Vote or Statutory Wording	2009-2010 Main Estimates	2010-2011 Main Estimates
45	Program expenditures	4,120	4,203
(S)	Contributions to employee benefit plans	408	422
Total Agency		4,528	4,625

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