If lobbyists are allowed to campaign for and assist politicians and then lobby them, then unethical, favour-trading lobbying will be allowed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, April 8, 2024
OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch is at the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) in Ottawa appealing the June 2023 Federal Court ruling that it was reasonable for federal Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger to let lobbyists Ben Bergen and Dana O’Born of the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) off the hook even though they lobbied Liberal Cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland’s department and staff soon after co-managing her election campaign and serving on her riding association executive.
Democracy Watch’s two cases are being heard together given they are about the same situation, and DWatch argues that Bergen and O’Born’s lobbying violated the federal Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct Rule 6 which was in force at the time and which, according to the Commissioner’s own website, prohibits lobbyists from putting a politician in even an appearance of a conflict of interest, and Rule 9 which prohibits lobbying a politician or their staff for years after campaign or fundraising for them or assisting them in any other significant way.
Democracy Watch is asking the FCA to overturn the Commissioner’s and Federal Court’s rulings and find that lobbyists who campaign for or assist politicians and then lobby them soon afterwards put them in an apparent conflict of interest. Another similar situation came to light recently involving Jenni Byrne, who assisted Pierre Poilievre’s campaign to win the Conservative Party leadership, and has served as an adviser since, has been linked to lobbying of Poilievre’s staff and Shadow Cabinet ministers.
The hearing of the appeal is at 9:30 am at the Federal Court Building, 90 Sparks St., 10th floor, Ottawa, and also online on Zoom (click here to register to watch the hearing on Zoom). The case is FCA File No. A-181-23. Democracy Watch is represented by Andrew Montague-Reinholdt and Rhian Foley of Nelligan O’Brien Payne LLP.
“The federal lobbying ethics code prohibits anyone from lobbying a Cabinet minister or their officials for years after helping them get elected or assisting them in a significant way, and so hopefully the Federal Court of Appeal will overrule the Commissioner of Lobbying and find Minister Freeland’s former election campaign and riding association managers guilty of violating the code given they lobbied many senior officials in Minister Freeland’s former department soon after co-managing her election campaign,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.
“By letting the CCI lobbyists off the hook, issuing other similarly weak rulings in recent years letting off other unethical lobbyists, and by gutting key ethical lobbying rules, Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger is continuing the negligent enforcement record of her predecessor Karen Shepherd who let off 84% of the lobbyists who violated the law during her decade as commissioner,” said Conacher.
Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger finally issued two rulings in March 2020 (a completely unjustifiable delay of almost three years after Democracy Watch filed its complaint) that Mr. Bergen and Ms. O’Born did not violate Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct rules 6, 8, 9 or 10 which prohibit assisting a politician in any significant way and then lobbying their office or officials afterwards.
The cases have been delayed multiple times. First in fall 2020 waiting for the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) to decide whether to allow DWatch to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling on its case challenging former Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd’s decision not to investigate the Aga Khan for giving Justin Trudeau’s family and friends a trip to his private Bahamas island. Incredibly, the FCA ruled that the public has no right to have a complaint ruled on by the Commissioner, and therefore no right to challenge a decision not to investigate a complaint. The SCC decided not to hear DWatch’s appeal.
Then, the Trudeau Cabinet filed a motion to have Democracy Watch’s cases thrown out, but the Federal Court rejected the motion because in the Bergen and O’Born cases DWatch is challenging the Commissioner’s final rulings under section 10.5 of the Lobbying Act after completing her investigations. In contrast, in the Aga Khan case, the Commissioner refused to investigate under subsection 10.4(1) of the Act.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]
Democracy Watch’s Stop Secret, Unethical Lobbying Campaign and Government Ethics Campaign