A lobbyist registry could be coming to the Town of The Blue Mountains in the near future.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 29, the lobbyist registry was a topic of discussion after local resident Rick Tipping wrote to council asking why a registry had not yet been implemented by the town.
“The previous council committed to implementing a registry as a priority and yet after four years failed to initiate. Why? Other municipalities have established such registries and it should be considered an immediate imperative to promote transparency,” Tipping said in his letter.
The correspondence led Coun. Paula Hope to ask staff for an update on the registry project.
“The public wants to make sure it’s in a position to review any influences that are going on,” said Hope. “This is standard practice now.”
In 2021, the town began preliminary work on a lobbyist registry, but CAO Shawn Everitt said staff ran out of time to complete the project. He said it is still on the radar for staff and would be part of the service delivery review process that council approved at the same meeting.
“Staff fully supports this,” said Everitt. “When we looked at it before, we just ran out of resourcing time to be able to do this.”
The CAO said it is important to take a look at what other municipalities have done with their lobbyist registries to ensure the town has the resources in place to manage it appropriately.
Members of council indicated their support for the project.
“I’m still a very strong believer in this. I think we’re being pressured more and more these days,” said coun. Gail Ardiel. “We need to move forward with this. A lot of people are concerned about this, we heard it again during the election.”
Lobbying is considered to be any communication with a public office holder by an individual who represents a business or financial interest with the goal of trying to influence legislative action.
A registry is an online tool that works to provide accountability and transparency, as well as giving the public access to know who is communicating with elected officials.
If established, lobbyists would be required to disclose lobbying activities by identifying themselves, the client for which they are lobbying, the subject matter, the individual they lobbied, the method used for communication and the dates the communications occurred.
“I think it would provide an added layer of transparency, which would be welcomed by the community,” said Coun. June Porter.
