The committee was studying the statutory review of Canada's Lobbying Act, hearing from Michael Harvey, Registrar of Lobbyists for British Columbia, and from three OECD officials: Elsa Pilichowski, Pauline Bertrand, and Nejla Saula.
Michael Harvey described British Columbia's Lobbyists Transparency Act, emphasizing its simplicity and its "registration by default" approach, which removed a 100-hour threshold for in-house lobbyists and led to a 100% increase in registered organizations. He highlighted the requirement for monthly returns on lobbying communications with senior public office holders and his authority to issue administrative penalties up to $25,000 or a two-year lobbying prohibition, though penalties have been used sparingly. Harvey recommended that the federal act consider beneficial ownership disclosure, mandatory consultation of the registrar on legislative changes, and authority to issue advisory opinions, and he noted that B.C.'s two-year cooling-off period for former public office holders, with exceptions for public interest, has worked well operationally, though he acknowledged that a five-year federal period may be long.
Elsa Pilichowski noted that Canada is among the strongest OECD performers on lobbying regulation, meeting 80% of criteria for legal framework and 89% for practice, but she cited OECD trust data showing 49% of Canadians still believe their government would accept corporate lobbying favouring industry interests. She stressed that well-designed lobbying frameworks balance transparency with proportionate compliance and that Canada's independent oversight is a strength.
Pauline Bertrand recommended that Canada consider expanding disclosure to include financial information on lobbying budgets and expenses, as seen in Germany, and to require more detail on grassroots communications. She supported removing the "significant part of duties" threshold in favour of registration by default, noting that newer OECD laws like Portugal's avoid such thresholds, and she advocated for a graduated system of administrative penalties, citing Ireland's model of automatic fines for late returns and France's public formal notice mechanism.
Nejla Saula addressed the broader integrity ecosystem, noting that lobbying is not corruption but requires transparent regulation, and she highlighted that Canada lacks a unified central anti-corruption strategy, which many OECD countries have adopted with monitoring and evaluation systems to adapt to new threats like foreign interference. She agreed that a standing committee's ability to summon witnesses on potential conflicts of interest enhances transparency and public trust.
The committee later heard a motion from Michael Barrett to study the connection between the Minister of Finance and Alto, calling for the ethics commissioner, Alto executives, and the minister to appear by May 8, 2026, but the motion was denied by the Liberals.
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