In this issue...

Top 3 Registration Wins!

Lobbyists and senior officers have been taking important steps in keeping their registrations accurate, complete and up to date. Here are three registration wins we are seeing.
  • Asking questions early: More lobbyists and senior officers are contacting the Office with questions about registration requirements, timelines, and potential conflicts of interest situations. Lobbyist registration inquiries officers are available to meet on Teams, respond by email or answer questions by phone.
  • Sharing knowledge: Lobbyists and senior officers are working with their firms, businesses and organizations more regularly to share updates and keep registrations consistent. We’ve heard about monthly check-ins to ensure accuracy and consistency with registrations, improving compliance with the requirements of the Lobbyists Registration Act, 1998.
  • Providing better details: Registrations have clearer information on government funding, descriptions of the client, company or organization, as well as the ever-important lobbying activities. And if Office staff request additional information or clarification, many lobbyists, senior officers and primary contacts respond promptly.

These small steps can help keep registrations up to date and on time.

Looking for more quick wins? The Registration and Compliance Checklists are great resources to ensure you’re meeting your obligations.

Common Sources of Conflict of Interest

Conflicts of interest occur when a public office holder has private interests that conflict with their public duties. The Lobbyists Registration Act, 1998, prohibits lobbyists and senior officers from placing a public office holder in a position of real or potential conflict of interest.

Here are some ways conflicts of interest can occur when lobbying:

Gifts

Offering a public office holder a gift or benefit such as tickets, meals and trips. Gifts can only be accepted in limited circumstances, which are assessed and determined by the Integrity Commissioner.

Personal and professional relationships

Having a personal, professional or business relationship with a public office holder you are lobbying. This includes being a former colleague or having an ongoing working relationship, being a family member or close friend, or being in a romantic relationship with the public office holder.

Political activity and campaigning

Doing political work for or with a public office holder you lobby. This includes working on an election campaign or participating in fundraising where you had significant interaction with the public office holder.

If you have questions about a potential conflict of interest, you should contact the Office to request an Advisory Opinion about your specific situation.

You can also consult the Office’s Interpretation Bulletin #11: What is a conflict of interest and how does it affect my lobbying? for more information.

Making Changes During the Renewal Window

Did you know you can make changes to your registration when you are renewing your registration? You do not have to submit a separate notice of change when you are in your renewal window.

What’s a renewal window? We covered that in Issue 44.

If you are lobbying, the Act requires all consultant lobbyists to renew their registrations annually. Senior officers with in-house registrations must renew twice a year. If you have updates to make to the information in your registration, you can do this when you renew.

To renew your registration, log in and select “Renew a registration” from the “I would like to...” menu page. The renewal process will let you click through each section of the registration and edit the sections that need updating.

It’s important to note that changes or updates to registrations are required within 30 calendar days of the change occurring, or knowledge of new information being acquired. This means that you might need to make a change before your renewal window opens.

If you are not in your renewal window, you can submit a change at any time. It is important to remember, however, that submitting a change is not the same as submitting an annual or semi-annual renewal.