I will be presenting a motion during the city council meeting on Aug. 12 asking council to direct staff to prepare a report with a draft bylaw, which would establish a lobbyist registry for the City of Greater Sudbury.
I think it is time for us to have our own lobbyist registry so that the general public — and even all city councillors — can be more aware of all organized attempts to influence the actions and decisions of members of city council.
A lobbyist registry would not in any way prevent individuals or private interest groups from exercising their right to attempt to influence the actions and decisions of members of city council. This is a fundamental principle of democracy that must be preserved.
It is also not intended to discourage individual constituents from contacting their ward representatives to express their opinions and suggestions on matters before city council. After all, we are the “voice” of our constituents and it is important that we know where our constituents stand on important issues. So continued contact with your ward councilor will be encouraged.
Lobbying is commonly defined as any organized attempt by individuals or private interest groups to influence the actions and decisions of members of city council. A lobbyist is therefore defined as a person who takes part in an organized attempt to influence the actions and decisions of members of city council. And, so, a lobbyist registry would ensure that interactions between members of city council and lobbyists are a matter of public record.
Within the municipal context, lobbying can be attempted by someone who is paid to act on behalf of a client; someone who is an employee or member of a public or private sector organization or business; someone who is a volunteer acting on behalf of a not-for-profit organization; or any individual constituent or group of constituents who may be attempting to influence the actions and decisions of members of city council.
It is important to keep in mind that lobbying is not only done by professional lobbyists. Most existing lobbyist registries only include professional lobbyists, but through the motion I have tabled, I want to expand the scope of the Greater Sudbury Lobbyist Registry beyond professionals in order to include all people who are taking part in an organized attempt to influence the decisions of council.
Most of the lobbyists who organize lobbying activities at the municipal level are volunteers, business owners, organizations or groups of individuals with a common interest. They are not professional lobbyists, but their goals and objectives are the same.
A Lobbyist Registry has already been established by a number of municipalities in Ontario including Peel, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Brampton, Vaughan and Collingwood. The City of Greater Sudbury is the 13th largest municipality in Ontario and is the largest city by population in all of Northern and Central Ontario combined, so I think it is time for us to consider having our own lobbyist registry.
We are certainly a large enough city for a Lobbyist Registry. The City of Greater Sudbury has an operating budget of close to $650 million with a municipal tax levy of more than $280 million. Our capital budget for 2020 is $160 million and we have borrowed another $200 million for large projects like the KED and the Junction.The replacement value of our tangible capital assets is more than $10 billion and our commercial, industrial and residential taxable assessment is more than $22.5 billion.
We operate 58 different services with more than 150 sub-services, and while some are more critical than others, each of the services is considered extremely important to some segment of our population All of this is controlled by a full time mayor and 12 part-time councillors who are responsible for making sound financial and policy decisions that will be an investment in the future of our city.
Our vision as a city is “to be a Centre of excellence and opportunity – a vibrant community of communities living together.” I think a lobbyist registry will help us achieve this vision. I am hoping my fellow councillors will allow staff to prepare a report on the feasibility of establishing a lobbyist registry so that we can at least have the conversation.
Robert Kirwan is the city councillor for Ward 5.
