People lobbying Barrie councillors or city staff could soon face the spotlight’s bright glare.
City council told staff Wednesday night to investigate the feasibility of creating a lobbyist registry for Barrie to ensure the public disclosure of lobbying activities, to oversee the regulation of lobbyists’ conduct and report back to councillors.
An item-for-discussion motion to this effect was introduced by Mayor Alex Nuttall and passed on consent, with no discussion.
Coun. Sergio Morales, as Barrie’s longest-serving councillor, says much has changed since he was first elected and the lobbyist registry is necessary to deal with special-interest groups.
“Eight years ago, Barrie council dealt with Barrie stakeholders, and most were known to council,” he said. “Nowadays, we are interacting with special-interest groups from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and issues that aren’t on our radar, which is to be expected with Barrie being a magnet for growth and change.”
Nuttall has said the creation of a transparent and open registry will bring Barrie in line with municipalities such as Guelph, Collingwood and Hamilton.
“As cities in the GTA grew, so did their stakeholder management, with some adopting a lobby registry,” Morales said.
Nuttall has also said the onus for a lobbying registry is on those doing the lobbying, rather than those who are being lobbied.
Just what Barrie’s lobbyist registry will look like will depend upon staff’s investigation and the report that comes with it.
Collingwood’s lobbyist registry came into effect Jan. 20, 2020, and is said to form part of the town’s accountability and transparency framework. It's described as an online tool that documents instances of substantive communication — such as telephone calls, meetings or emails — between those who lobby and members of town council or town staff, in a centralized database that is easy to access and search by the public and interested stakeholders.
It requires lobbyists to record their lobbying activity within 10 business days of the initial communication taking place. Lobbyists are asked to disclose lobbying activities by identifying the subject matter, the client for which they are lobbying, the individual they lobbied, the method of communication, and the date.
Hamilton also calls its lobbyist registry an accountability and transparency tool. Its goal is to allow members of the public to clearly see who is lobbying the City of Hamilton’s public office holders, and aligns with the city’s values and strategic priorities.
Lobbyists in Hamilton are required to register their lobbying activity at least one business day before they can communicate with a public office holder.
The Office of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario also has lobbyist registration.
Morales said the timing is right for Barrie to have a lobbyist registry.
“Since we have cleared the pending items list, now is an appropriate time to have staff look into this and propose a solution that works for Barrie,” he said.
Council also gave final approval Wednesday night to a motion which deletes the city’s pending list of 167 outstanding to-do items, which dates back to the 2010-14 term of council. This saves an estimated $500,000 in city staff time to address these matters.
Nuttall has cited "responsible governance" as the section of this council’s strategic priorities, formulated Dec. 3, which leads to the creation of a lobbyist registry.
These priorities include supporting services the community needs while keeping tax increases low, maintaining focus on core city services, financial stewardship, which includes finding efficiencies and innovation, advocating to other levels of government for support and ensuring accountability and transparency.
