Greater Sudbury council has unanimously backed a motion from Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan for staff to explore creating a lobbyist registry for Greater Sudbury, so the public will know who is trying to influence decisions of local elected officials.
Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan brought forward a members' motion during an Aug. 12 meeting of council, requesting that staff prepare a report that will be presented to council in the fourth quarter of 2020 with a draft bylaw that would establish a lobbyist registry for the City of Greater Sudbury.
"I think we've been toying with the idea of a lobbyist registry for years, and as we've been looking at it in the past I think we've looked at lobbyists as people that would be employed to lobby at the provincial and federal levels," said Kirwan.
"But what's been happening, what I've been noticing over the last six years, is that there's more interest in municipal government by a lot of organizations and corporations and individuals, and they're becoming more sophisticated in the way they approach councillors to try and influence [us] on certain things that they're passionate about."
The councillor said he often receives emails and phone calls from citizens asking about groups that are talking to council about projects and that in some instances he's in the dark about matters that are being brought to his attention.
"It's kind of embarrassing to say 'I'm not aware of anybody talking to councillors about this'," said Kirwan. "All I'm looking for is if staff can take some time and come back with a draft bylaw.”
The bylaw, he said, isn’t directed at individual constituents speaking with their ward councillor. Rather, it would govern interactions between elected officials and representatives of public or private sector organizations making a concerted and organized effort to influence the decision of a councillor or council.
Kirwan said individual ward councillors will still be available to their constituents when they have questions or concerns.
"If someone wants to contact all of the councillors and try to convince them of something then that might be what staff says would be the definition of organized. If they have six friends and every one of their friends are going to contact every councillor to try and sign their name to a copy and paste letter, that's kind of organized," said Kirwan.
"This is just so that there's a public record that there's a group that's meeting with councillors to try and influence them in some particular aspect and it also then gives the general public an opportunity to know it as well. If the general public sees that there's a lobbyist group that's trying to influence councillors in one direction, they now have an opportunity to contact their ward councillors to give them feedback on how they feel."
Support for Kirwan's motion was unanimous, though Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier did point out that this is simply the first step and council will have to take a close look at the staff report when it is brought to council sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.
"I can support the motion because what it's asking for is a staff report to come back. I'm obviously not prepared to get into the weeds of anything because we don't have that in front of us," said Cormier. "Coun. Kirwan is asking to flesh this out a little bit and see what staff come back with, so I can support it in that context for the time being, and wait for the staff report."
Ward 7 Coun. Mike Jakubo also spoke in favour of the motion, noting that this he's supported for some time now.
"This is something that since 2014 I've been very much in favour of," said Jakubo. "It's an important exercise in openness and transparency, which we often strive constantly to further improve."
Kirwan said he is concerned about the possibility councillors could be being lobbied and influenced behind closed doors without other members of council or members of the public being aware.
"You only have to convince seven people," said Kirwan. "We've grown, we're kind of a big operation now, big enough that the decisions made at the council table are significant. Everybody knows there's been a lot of lobbying on certain issues.”
