In this issue...

• Meet the Lobbyists Registry Team
• Lobbyists Registrars and Commissioners Network meets in Quebec City

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Every day, a small but mighty team at the Office of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario responds to emails and calls from registered lobbyists and other individuals to answer questions about and provide assistance on the province’s lobbyist registry and the requirements of the Lobbyists Registration Act, 1998. They also review each registration, be it new, renewed or amended, before it is submitted to the Registrar for publication.

But who are these registry experts? In this issue of ON Lobbying, we invite you to meet Celeste, Fatima and Claire – aka Team Lobbying!

A night owl by default, Celeste still loves quiet, early morning sunrises, especially in places like Belize and other countries in Central America. Along with English and the lesser known “Registry Language” with its terms “reset to draft” and “notice of change”, she speaks French and Spanish. She loves Thai food, travelling, and exploring and learning about diverse cultures.

Next, we have Fatima Yuen, Inquiries Officer, and the team’s morning person so you may receive early morning emails from her, in which she likes to include as much detail as possible to assist you. Fatima’s favourite part of her job is learning new things through the wide variety of lobbying activities reported on the registry. When it comes to resources for lobbyists, she’s a fan of both the compliance checklists and the tutorial videos. Her top tip for searching the public registry is to start with a keyword search and make sure you indicate whether you want the search results to contain both active and inactive registrations. Fatima’s favourite food is laksa – a spicy noodle dish – and she loves vacationing in cities with many museums and churches, which is probably why her favourite book to movie production is Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.

Claire’s a confirmed night owl, but her calm and pleasant manner is present no matter the time of day. She has more knowledge about the Lobbyists Registration Act in her pinky finger than the entire office combined, which is great for you because she enjoys helping lobbyists meet their obligations under the legislation. Her favourite resources on the site are the 12 Interpretation Bulletins, which are plain language explanations of specific parts of the Act. Her top tip: You can check for recently published registrations by clicking on the “Recent Active” button at the bottom left of the public registry search page. Her favourite food is grilled cheese with tomato soup, and she has a flair for interior design, having selected some lovely artwork and décor items for the office over the years.

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Team Lobbying. Remember that you can reach Celeste, Fatima, and Claire at lobbyist.mail@oico.on.ca when you have questions about Ontario’s lobbyist registry or the Lobbyists Registration Act, especially if you haven’t found the answers on the website’s resources.

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Earlier this month, Integrity Commissioner Wake and office staff attended the annual conference of the Lobbyists Registrars and Commissioners Network, which was hosted by Lobbyisme Québec in Quebec City. Along with representatives from Canada’s Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, six provincial lobbying registration offices and the registrars from the cities of Ottawa and Toronto attended the Network's first in-person meeting since 2019.

(Photo: Lobbyisme Québec)

As always, the annual conference provided an opportunity for jurisdictions to share best practices and discuss emerging issues for lobbyist registration requirements.

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