80%+ voters want “dirty dozen” secret lobbying loopholes closed

80%+ voters also want loopholes in lobbying code closed to stop unethical favour-trading between lobbyists and politicians

Commissioner and RCMP have let off 99.9% of violations of lobbying law and code in secret rulings without the lobbyist being identified or penalized

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, June 8, 2026

OTTAWA – Late this afternoon, Democracy Watch Co-founder Duff Conacher will testify at a hearing of the House Ethics Committee as it continues its nine-year overdue review of the federal Lobbying Act.  DWatch will call on the Committee to recommend key changes to close huge loopholes in the Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct that allow for secret, unethical lobbying, and key changes to ensure independent, timely, transparent, effective and accountable enforcement by the Commissioner of Lobbying and RCMP, both of which have negligently bad enforcement records.

There are a “dirty dozen” secret lobbying loopholes in the Act, and four unethical lobbying loopholes in the Code that were added by Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger and the Ethics Committee in July 2023.

The secrecy loopholes allow for lobbying mainly by big businesses that is not required to be disclosed in the federal Registry of Lobbyists if: the lobbyist is not paid to lobby; is lobbying about enforcement of a law or regulation or for a tax credit; is an employee lobbying less than 8 hours a month; or is lobbying a political party official.  Most lobbying communications are also not required to be disclosed in the Registry.

Unregistered lobbyists are not required to comply with the few ethics rules in the Code.  The secret lobbying loopholes also allow politicians to leave office and start doing unregistered lobbying right away.  The so-called five-year ban on lobbying after leaving your position only applies to lobbying that is required to be registered under the Act.

The unethical lobbying loopholes in the Code allow registered lobbyists to secretly fundraise and campaign for party leaders, politicians and parties, and assist them in other ways and give them gifts, while lobbying them at the same time or soon afterwards.  Lobbyists are also allowed to lobby for conflicting interests, and to use secret information obtained from public officials.

A national survey that Democracy Watch commissioned from Nanos Research in January 2025 showed more than 80% of Canadians want to know about all lobbying activities, and are concerned about the corrupting effects of secret, unethical lobbying on politicians’ policy-making decisions.

More than 40 lawyers and professors, many of them leading experts in government ethics, and 26 citizen groups with a total membership of 1.5 million Canadians, and more than 20,000 voters who signed on to Democracy Watch’s petition on Change.org or its letter-writing campaign, have called on federal parties to reverse the gutting of the Lobbyists’ Code so that lobbyists would again be prohibited from assisting politicians and lobbying them at the same time or soon afterwards.

“It’s outrageous that MPs from all parties have for decades left open loopholes in the federal lobbying law that allow for secret lobbying, and that they all worked with the Commissioner of Lobbying to create new loopholes to allow lobbyists to essentially secretly bribe federal politicians with fundraising, working on campaigns and other favours,” said Conacher.  “The committee must call for changes to close all of these loopholes to stop the secret, corrupt favour-trading between lobbyists and politicians that is currently legal and that taints every federal policy-making and government spending process.”

The loopholes, combined with the negligently bad enforcement record  Commissioner Bélanger and the RCMP, make the federal lobbying law and code a sad joke.  They have let off 99.9% of violations of lobbying law and code in secret rulings without the lobbyist being identified or penalized.

Commissioner Bélanger’s and the RCMP’s horrible enforcement record makes it clear that many changes are needed to the Act to require them to enforce the Act and Code strictly, strongly, effectively and transparently.  The Commissioner must be chosen through an independent process, not through the current ruling party Cabinet-controlled process that the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled is biased, with no possibility of re-appointment for a second term.

The Commissioner must also be required to conduct regular audits, and to issue a public ruling and impose a penalty for all violations, and the public must be given the right to challenge the Commissioner in court for failing to enforce the Act or Code properly.

“The rules in every law and code are just words on paper until they are enforced effectively, and the Commissioner of Lobbying and RCMP have completely failed for decades to enforce the federal lobbying law and code, and their negligently bad enforcement record has encouraged secret, unethical lobbying that corrupts every federal policy-making and government spending process,” said Conacher.  “The media, and the public, often look for examples of what politicians are doing for lobbyists in return for the favours lobbyists do for politicians, but they should realize that lobbyists often want politicians to return their favours by doing nothing – by not regulating big businesses, not protecting consumers, workers or the environment, not cutting business subsidies and tax credits, and not taxing them.”

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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 Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign