Stop Secret, Unethical Lobbying Campaign

Advocating key changes to stop secret, unethical lobbying across Canada because it is major cause of bad government decisions

Think about any bad government decision that has concerned you, and likely secret, unethical lobbying played a part the decision. Secret, unethical lobbying must be stopped because it is a recipe for corruption, waste and abuse of the public interest, the environment and communities across the country.

Please send your letter now using the form on this page, and please help spread the word by Sharing and Tweeting this page.

And please also click here to help keep this campaign going until all the secret, unethical lobbying loopholes are closed.

Key Links

Federal Anti-Corruption Fund (please donate to support private prosecutions in corruption cases)
Government Ethics Fund (please support lobbying ethics complaints and lawsuits across Canada)
Summary of Ethics Court Cases and Ethics Complaints from 2016 on
Please download and post on social media or print and post everywhere the I’m Voting for Good Government sign
Call on the politicians that represent you to Make the Democratic Good Government Pledge
Organizations join the nation-wide Government Ethics Coalition by signing on to the Coalition’s 19 Recommendations to Clean Up Canada’s Lobbying and Ethics Rules Enforcement System

Campaign News

Public interest, not partisan self-interest, actions needed to make changes to stop foreign interference before an election

March 3, 2025 3:54AM

Hogue Inquiry calls for a few, but far from all, changes needed to stop secret, unethical, big money, lobbying and disinformation foreign interference

January 28, 2025 1:01PM

Public interest, not partisan self-interest, actions needed before prorogation or next federal election

January 6, 2025 1:35AM

Read all campaign news

The Opportunity

Please help support the call to secret, unethical lobbying across Canada! Governments are reviewing lobbying disclosure and ethics rules, and opposition parties are looking for proposals to clean up politics, including by closing huge loopholes in lobbying laws.

Please click Send on this page to send your letter to the Prime Minister and other key federal politicians, and your provincial Premier and provincial politicians, calling for key changes to Stop Secret, Unethical Lobbying across Canada.

If you are a Change.org supporter, you can also click here to sign Democracy Watch’s petition calling for key changes to stop secret, unethical lobbying of federal MPs and federal government officials.

Please Share this page with everyone you know.

Background

Because of huge loopholes in lobbying laws, it is legal to lobby governments and politicians across Canada in secret.

Huge loopholes in ethics rules also allow lobbyists to fundraise for politicians, and give gifts and do other favours for politicians and government officials, in secret. Big money donations from lobbyists to politicians are also legal across Canada.

As well, lobby groups are not required to disclose how much they spend on lobbying on any issue, nor who funds them, which allows big businesses and other wealthy interests (including foreign governments, corporations and billionaires) to spend huge amounts of money secretly pushing their agenda, including by secretly funding front groups that are not actually supported by any or many Canadians.

Lobbying laws also need to be strengthened across Canada to make it illegal for lobbyists to mislead voters with false claims, misinformation or disinformation.

In other words, the laws across Canada are so weak and full of loopholes that they allow lobbyists to be secretly bankrolled by wealthy interests (including from other countries) to buy influence and trade favours with politicians and government officials in secret, all while misleading voters and everyone else.

Other big problems are that the watchdogs who enforce lobbying laws across Canada are often lapdogs who are chosen by politicians, and let violators off most of the time. Key changes are needed to ensure the watchdogs are fully independent from politicians, and are required to enforce the laws strictly and strongly, and penalize all violations.

All of these loopholes need to be closed, and enforcement and penalties strengthened, to stop politicians and governments from doing secret, behind-closed-door deals with lobbyists that waste taxpayers’ money and hurt voters and communities across the country.

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Please send your letter now to key politicians calling for changes to stop secret, unethical lobbying across Canada as it is a major cause of bad government decisions

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Hello,

I am calling on governments across Canada to end secret, unethical lobbying by implementing the following measures which are supported by the Government Ethics Coalition, made up of 32 citizen groups from across Canada representing over 3 million Canadians:

Pass a law requiring that all government institutions consult with the public before making any significant decision, including providing at least 60 days for the public to make a submission to the government, consulting with experts, and undertaking study circles or citizen assembly processes, with results of all consultations reported publicly, so that the influence of lobbyists is decreased;
Reverse the federal Commissioner of Lobbying’s and House Ethics Committee’s changes to key federal ethical lobbying rules that allow lobbyists to essentially bribe MPs and federal party leaders – see details about this at: https://bit.ly/3ZH89uZ

Ensure lobbying activities are tracked and the undue influence of lobbyists is restricted by ensuring that the lobbying law:

Requires Ministers, their staff, and everyone working in a party caucus office or party office who passes on information or suggestions to politicians concerning their decisions, Cabinet appointees and other senior government officials, members of the legislature and senators and all their staff, and everyone working in a party caucus office or party office who passes on information or suggestions to politicians concerning their decisions, to disclose all their contacts in an online, searchable database with anyone who communicates with them in any way about their decisions;
After each election, require disclosure to the Commissioner of Lobbying by political parties and MPs of the list of people who worked or volunteered for them in their election campaign, and also require parties to disclose their staff, advisors, consultants and volunteers, and MPs to disclose who works or volunteers for their riding association, and Senators to disclose anyone who volunteers for them (with volunteering defined as helping out for a more than a few hours during the campaign or in between elections, given this amounts to a donation or favour to the politician or party that many voters cannot afford to make).
Require MPs and government officials to put into the lobbying registry monthly the total number of emails, phone calls, texts, faxes and letters they receive from voters concerning any policy-making decision, categorized by information that identifies the policy subject (the bill number, subject of the bill, tax, subsidy or government program) and how many voters were for or against the proposed decision.
If politicians and public officials are not required to disclose who communicates with them in any way about their decisions, then anyone who communicates with them must be required to register and disclose all their communications (including everyone involved in each communication), no matter how much time the communications take, and whether or not they are paid or volunteer (the only exception should be that a voter sending a mass letter or email as part of an organization’s lobbying effort should not be required to register, instead the organization should be required to register);
Requires lobbyists to disclose how much they and their clients are spending on each campaign (as required in 33 U.S. states);
Requires lobbyists and lobby groups to disclose to the lobbying commissioner a list of who funds them, including funding from any government, and funding or donations from anyone or any organization of any kind from anywhere in the world that has given them more than $200 in funding in the past two years, and requires them to disclose in the lobbying registry the percentage of their total funding received from individuals, foundations, businesses, other organizations and government for each other country from which they receive funding, in order to reveal who is bankrolling any lobbying effort;
Requires lobbyists and lobby groups to disclose the identity of any individual or group they are working with in any way on each lobbying effort, especially leading up to elections, in order to reveal whether lobbying groups are colluding to avoid disclosing their lobbying or to exceed spending limits;
Requires lobbyists to disclose past work with political parties, election candidates and governments and government institutions;
Prohibits lobbyists from knowingly misrepresenting facts, omitting important details or presenting information that is misleading or false when they lobby officials, or in grassroots lobbying appeals to the public, or in any public communications or advertising related to a lobby effort or lobbying an official;
Prohibits lobbyists putting any politician or public official in even an appearance of a conflict of interest (as prohibited by the federal Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct), including by fundraising or doing any other favours;
Prohibits lobbyists from giving any gift to any politician or public official because independent psychological tests worldwide have shown that even small gifts have influence over decisions, and remove the exemption in the Criminal Code of Canada (clauses 121(1)(b) and (c)), and in any ethics or conflict of interest code, policy or directive, that allows a politician or public official to accept a gift or benefit if their boss approves it;
Prohibits everyone, especially lobbyists, from donating more than an average voter can afford (which, generally across Canada, is no more than $75 annually);
Requires anyone, whether or not they are lobbying, and whether or not they are paid, to register in the lobbying registry if they are representing in any way a foreign government or political organization, or any entity owned or controlled (directly or indirectly) by a foreign government or political organization, including through involvement in public relations or communications or political activities, and what the objectives of the government or entity are in Canada.
Prohibits lobbyists from doing work for government departments (such as providing advice on communications) and from having any business connections with anyone who does such work, and;
Eliminate the corporate tax deduction for lobbying expenses.

And ensure lobbying laws/codes/rules are effectively enforced by:

Ensuring a “whistleblower” protection law exists that gives anyone the right to reports a violation of any law, policy, code, guideline etc. to a fully independent integrity commissioner who has the power and resources to fully investigate complaints, and to protect all whistleblowers from retaliation and to compensate them fully if they suffer retaliation;
As Quebec has for appointing provincial court judges, create an independent commission to conduct open, merit-based searches for Cabinet appointments, and to require the Cabinet to choose from a short list of candidates the commission proposes, and require approval from opposition party leaders of the appointment of all commissioners that enforce lobbying laws;
Appoint all lobbying commissioners for fixed, multi-year, non-renewable terms with full independence and investigative powers;
Requiring all lobbying commissioners to conduct regular, unannounced audits of the activities of the people who are covered by the law they enforce, to ensure everyone is complying with the rules;
Requiring all lobbying commissioners to review complaints filed by the public, and rule publicly on every complaint;
Requiring all lobbying commissioners to issue a ruling every time they give advice to anyone on how the law/code rules apply to specific situations;
Allowing complainants to go to court if the lobbying commissioner delays an investigation an unreasonable length of time, or makes any legal or factual error in a ruling; and
Increase the maximum penalties for violations of any lobbying law or code to at least match the current penalties for violating the federal Lobbying Act (ie. $50,000 to $200,000 fines and jail terms of 6 months to 2 years), and preferably make them even stronger given how much lobbyists are paid, including loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments, and require the enforcement agency/commissioner to impose a mandatory minimum fine of at least $10,000 for every violation, to ensure that any lobbyist who violates a rule is penalized.

Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.

Hello,
I am calling on governments across Canada to end secret, unethical lobbying by implementing the following measures which are supported by the Government Ethics Coalition, made up of 32 citizen groups from across Canada representing over 3 million Canadians:
<ol>
<li>Pass a law requiring that all government institutions consult with the public before making any significant decision, including providing at least 60 days for the public to make a submission to the government, consulting with experts, and undertaking study circles or citizen assembly processes, with results of all consultations reported publicly, so that the influence of lobbyists is decreased;</li>
<li>Reverse the federal Commissioner of Lobbying’s and House Ethics Committee’s changes to key federal ethical lobbying rules that allow lobbyists to essentially bribe MPs and federal party leaders – see details about this at: <a href="https://bit.ly/3ZH89uZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3ZH89uZ</a></li>
</ol>
Ensure lobbying activities are tracked and the undue influence of lobbyists is restricted by ensuring that the lobbying law:
<ol>
<li>Requires Ministers, their staff, and everyone working in a party caucus office or party office who passes on information or suggestions to politicians concerning their decisions, Cabinet appointees and other senior government officials, members of the legislature and senators and all their staff, and everyone working in a party caucus office or party office who passes on information or suggestions to politicians concerning their decisions, to disclose all their contacts in an online, searchable database with anyone who communicates with them in any way about their decisions;</li>
<li>After each election, require disclosure to the Commissioner of Lobbying by political parties and MPs of the list of people who worked or volunteered for them in their election campaign, and also require parties to disclose their staff, advisors, consultants and volunteers, and MPs to disclose who works or volunteers for their riding association, and Senators to disclose anyone who volunteers for them (with volunteering defined as helping out for a more than a few hours during the campaign or in between elections, given this amounts to a donation or favour to the politician or party that many voters cannot afford to make).</li>
<li>Require MPs and government officials to put into the lobbying registry monthly the total number of emails, phone calls, texts, faxes and letters they receive from voters concerning any policy-making decision, categorized by information that identifies the policy subject (the bill number, subject of the bill, tax, subsidy or government program) and how many voters were for or against the proposed decision.</li>
<li>If politicians and public officials are not required to disclose who communicates with them in any way about their decisions, then anyone who communicates with them must be required to register and disclose all their communications (including everyone involved in each communication), no matter how much time the communications take, and whether or not they are paid or volunteer (the only exception should be that a voter sending a mass letter or email as part of an organization’s lobbying effort should not be required to register, instead the organization should be required to register);</li>
<li>Requires lobbyists to disclose how much they and their clients are spending on each campaign (as required in 33 U.S. states);</li>
<li>Requires lobbyists and lobby groups to disclose to the lobbying commissioner a list of who funds them, including funding from any government, and funding or donations from anyone or any organization of any kind from anywhere in the world that has given them more than $200 in funding in the past two years, and requires them to disclose in the lobbying registry the percentage of their total funding received from individuals, foundations, businesses, other organizations and government for each other country from which they receive funding, in order to reveal who is bankrolling any lobbying effort;</li>
<li>Requires lobbyists and lobby groups to disclose the identity of any individual or group they are working with in any way on each lobbying effort, especially leading up to elections, in order to reveal whether lobbying groups are colluding to avoid disclosing their lobbying or to exceed spending limits;</li>
<li>Requires lobbyists to disclose past work with political parties, election candidates and governments and government institutions;</li>
<li>Prohibits lobbyists from knowingly misrepresenting facts, omitting important details or presenting information that is misleading or false when they lobby officials, or in grassroots lobbying appeals to the public, or in any public communications or advertising related to a lobby effort or lobbying an official;</li>
<li>Prohibits lobbyists putting any politician or public official in even an appearance of a conflict of interest (as prohibited by the federal Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct), including by fundraising or doing any other favours;</li>
<li>Prohibits lobbyists from giving any gift to any politician or public official because independent psychological tests worldwide have shown that even small gifts have influence over decisions, and remove the exemption in the Criminal Code of Canada (clauses 121(1)(b) and (c)), and in any ethics or conflict of interest code, policy or directive, that allows a politician or public official to accept a gift or benefit if their boss approves it;</li>
<li>Prohibits everyone, especially lobbyists, from donating more than an average voter can afford (which, generally across Canada, is no more than $75 annually);</li>
<li>Requires anyone, whether or not they are lobbying, and whether or not they are paid, to register in the lobbying registry if they are representing in any way a foreign government or political organization, or any entity owned or controlled (directly or indirectly) by a foreign government or political organization, including through involvement in public relations or communications or political activities, and what the objectives of the government or entity are in Canada.</li>
<li>Prohibits lobbyists from doing work for government departments (such as providing advice on communications) and from having any business connections with anyone who does such work, and;</li>
<li>Eliminate the corporate tax deduction for lobbying expenses.</li>
</ol>
And ensure lobbying laws/codes/rules are effectively enforced by:
<ol>
<li>Ensuring a “whistleblower” protection law exists that gives anyone the right to reports a violation of any law, policy, code, guideline etc. to a fully independent integrity commissioner who has the power and resources to fully investigate complaints, and to protect all whistleblowers from retaliation and to compensate them fully if they suffer retaliation;</li>
<li>As Quebec has for appointing provincial court judges, create an independent commission to conduct open, merit-based searches for Cabinet appointments, and to require the Cabinet to choose from a short list of candidates the commission proposes, and require approval from opposition party leaders of the appointment of all commissioners that enforce lobbying laws;</li>
<li>Appoint all lobbying commissioners for fixed, multi-year, non-renewable terms with full independence and investigative powers;</li>
<li>Requiring all lobbying commissioners to conduct regular, unannounced audits of the activities of the people who are covered by the law they enforce, to ensure everyone is complying with the rules;</li>
<li>Requiring all lobbying commissioners to review complaints filed by the public, and rule publicly on every complaint;</li>
<li>Requiring all lobbying commissioners to issue a ruling every time they give advice to anyone on how the law/code rules apply to specific situations;</li>
<li>Allowing complainants to go to court if the lobbying commissioner delays an investigation an unreasonable length of time, or makes any legal or factual error in a ruling; and</li>
<li>Increase the maximum penalties for violations of any lobbying law or code to at least match the current penalties for violating the federal Lobbying Act (ie. $50,000 to $200,000 fines and jail terms of 6 months to 2 years), and preferably make them even stronger given how much lobbyists are paid, including loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments, and require the enforcement agency/commissioner to impose a mandatory minimum fine of at least $10,000 for every violation, to ensure that any lobbyist who violates a rule is penalized.</li>
</ol>
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for sending your letter, and please help keep this campaign going until these key democracy reforms are won. To donate now, please click here.

NOTE: Democracy Watch will protect your privacy, and keep you informed about this campaign and others.

To see where your letter goes, click here

Please support democracy

Advocating key changes to stop secret, unethical lobbying across Canada because it is major cause of bad government decisions

Key Links

Campaign News

The Opportunity

Background