Push for city hall lobbyist registry falls flat in Tuesday evening council meeting
CBC
A push by two rookie city councillors to create a public registry outlining who is attempting to influence legislators failed to garner enough support in its first appearance in the council chambers, Tuesday evening.
A motion to have city staff come back to council with a report on the feasibility, expenses, and purpose of implementing a municipal lobbyist registry fell short in a 5-to-9 vote after some debate.
"To me, this is a solution in search of a problem," said Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis, who voted against the motion. "This is just political theatre."
That motion, brought forward and seconded by councillors David Ferreira and Skylar Franke, came with a letter penned by the two outlining a case for establishing a registry. It cited a lack of public trust in municipal politicians, similar systems in other municipalities, and the lacklustre levels of public participation in municipal politics in London.
In the opinion of Lewis, those issues are either overblown or misunderstood.
He told council that many municipalities cited as having lobbyist registries have voter turnout levels similar to London, which Lewis used as an argument against the idea that it would increase voter turnout, participation, and faith in institutions.
Another issue for Lewis and other councillors, like Coun. Steve Lehman, had to do with defining lobbying.
"I was at the Knights game on Saturday night and Jim Graham from the London Air Show was there," said Lewis, who also argued that the city already has an integrity commissioner to turn to for issues of accountability and potential corruption. "Well, do I now need to fill out a form to give to our staff to say that I was lobbied?"
On top of that, councillors against the motion cited concerns over the funding required to pay the registrar who would be in charge of the system.
Arguments in support of the motion primarily came from Ferreira, Franke, and Coun. Sam Trosow.
"This is not red tape. This is clear tape.This is the type of tape that we need," said Ferreira during Tuesday's debate. "This is the type of tape that will allow individuals to be able to see into the city."
A lobbyist registry would serve only to increase public trust in municipal politicians and processes, according to Ferreira. Admitting there is some uncertainty on how processes related to reporting and recording lobbying might work, he said staff would be responsible for answering those questions.
"Given the recent issues we've seen at the provincial level with lobbyists in the Greenbelt, I'm not totally surprised [at a lack of trust]," said Franke. "This is simply just a report from staff to understand what the cost and process would be."
According to one expert, a lobbyist registry would do more to incentivize lobbyists to act according to provincial law rather than keeping councillors in check.