[All] Fwd: Lobbying at Queen’s Park

[Carole Clinch]

Good commentary from Lake Ontario Waterkeepers regarding lobbying at Queen's
Park.

Carole



    [image: Lake Ontario Waterkeeper]
Waterkeeper.ca Weekly:
November 3rd, 2010

 www.waterkeeper.ca

 Lobbying at Queen’s Park: bad news for water




When the Auditor General of Ontario criticized Ontario’s hospitals for using
provincial funding to hire lobbyists a few weeks
ago<http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en/consultantuse_en.pdf>,
it seemed as though government, opposition parties, media, and political
commentators all had something to say about it.

Jim Coyle in the Toronto
Star<http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/878554--coyle-lobbyists-thrive-in-climate-of-inaccessibility>linked
the hospitals’ lobbying efforts to a culture at Queen’s Park: “If you
don’t know the secret password into the key offices at Queen’s Park — or
can’t hire someone who does — you’re left holding the short straw.”

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews expressed shock and
horror<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/adam-radwanski/ontario-liberals-in-the-dark-about-lobbyists-hardly/article1766143/?cmpid=rss1>and
said that the culture of lobbying would end
immediately<http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/878554--coyle-lobbyists-thrive-in-climate-of-inaccessibility>.


That’s unlikely.

Lobbying is so common at Queen’s Park that it is very hard to imagine anyone
ending it overnight. To end the culture of lobbying would require a whole
new philosophy of government. That’s not happening “immediately”.

It’s not just bad news for hospitals. It’s bad news for air and water as
well. If you care about clean water, you should care about lobbying. Here’s
why:

------------------------------
*Lobbying and environmental regulation go hand in hand*
------------------------------

That doesn’t mean they *should* go hand in hand. But that’s how things work
in Ontario today. Want a permit to
pollute<http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/>?
Hire a lobbyist<http://lobbyist.oico.on.ca/LRO/RegistrationPublic.nsf/WebNewForPublic?OpenView>to
help with the process. Want regulations favourable to your entire
industry? Create an entire “association” to represent your interests at
Queen’s Park. (For example: Cement Day at Queen’s
Park<http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?locale=en&Parl=39&Sess=1&Date=2009-11-30>was
November 30, 2009; “Meet
the Miners Day<http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000356015&type=Print%20Archives>”
at Queen’s Park was March 25, 2009).

------------------------------
*“Pay to play” is all-too common*
------------------------------

Earlier this week, the NDP released
data<http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?Date=2010-11-01&Parl=39&Sess=2&locale=en#P118_17336>showing
that some Ontario utilities were spending thousands of dollars to
support Liberal party fundraising efforts. Municipally-owned utilities buy
tickets to partisan fundraising events, then defend it as a cost of doing
business:

The utility viewed the Liberal fundraisers as necessary networking events,
said Essex Power President and CEO Ray Tracey.

“It’s really to understand the direction of the government and… ensuring
that if we’re going to be making investments we can be sure that there’s a
commitment to these (green energy) programs,” said
Tracey<http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101101/OTT_Hydro_Donations_101101/20101101/?hub=OttawaHome>
.

Who’s to blame? The utilities that divert funds to partisan coffers? Or the
government that discloses important policy information only to those who pay
an entrance fee?

Such “networking” events are very common. Government, political parties, or
industry associations host conferences, speeches, and receptions and charge
entrance fees far greater than anything an ordinary individual could afford
to pay. (For example: In March 2010, the Minister of Energy was the keynote
speaker <http://www.mei.gov.on.ca/en/news/index.php?page=speech-20100329> at
an energy industry conference where passes typically cost about $1,000 and
tickets to his speech were $195.)

------------------------------
*The government itself joins (and funds) lobby associations*
------------------------------

Ontario government-funded entities are often members of lobby associations;
those associations, in turn, lobby the Ontario government. Ontario Power
Generation is a member of the Canadian Nuclear
Association<http://www.cna.ca/english/about_cna/members.html#OPG>,
as well as the CANDU Owners Group <http://www.candu.org/members.html> (also
a CNA member). The Ministries of Agriculture, Energy and Industry are
“funding organizations” of the Ontario Sustainable Energy
Association<http://www.ontario-sea.org/Page.asp?PageID=122&ContentID=916&SiteNodeID=205&BL_ExpandID=>.
The OSEA, in turn, is a member of the Green Energy Act
Alliance<http://www.greenenergyact.ca/Page.asp?PageID=122&ContentID=910&SiteNodeID=203&BL_ExpandID=>,
whose mandate was to campaign for the recently-passed *Green Energy and
Green Economy Act*.

------------------------------
*The government is simultaneously eliminating public access to
decision-makers*
------------------------------

Last week we wrote about Ontario’s Open for Business
policy<http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2010/10/27/why-did-ontario-kill-public-participation-rights/>,
which could be subtitled “Closed for the Public”. The new Open for Business
Act eliminates most of the public participation and public appeal rights
that individuals need to help protect their local environment. Prior to
that, there were other rollbacks such as the elimination of intervenor
funding for the public during environmental assessments.

------------------------------
*Solution?*
------------------------------
The only “solution” currently on the table is Bill 119, An Act to amend the
Lobbyists Registration
Act<http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?Date=2010-10-07&Parl=39&Sess=2&locale=en#P597_144037>.
This Bill passed first reading in early October. It prohibits
consultant-lobbyists from lobbying on behalf of public entities. But it
won’t solve the problem.

Bill 119 doesn’t stop publicly-funded organizations from keeping lobbyists
on staff; it only stops them from retaining consultants who lobby on their
behalf. More importantly, it doesn’t limit the ability of the private sector
to lobby and it doesn’t discourage Ministers from saving key policy
information for private events.

Until we have more meaningful conversations about who gets access to
decision-makers, how they get access, and what is said behind closed doors,
we have no assurance that wise decisions are being made. In the meantime, we
continue to see beach postings, drinking water advisories, and fish
consumption warnings that remind us we can do better. We continue to see
habitat destruction, lake filling, and new pollution permits that make
current problems worse. And we see ordinary people who care about their
water left outside in the cold.

------------------------------

Waterkeeper.ca Weekly:

Waterkeeper.ca Weekly reflects the meaning and force of environmental
justice on Lake Ontario. To contact the editor, please e-mail
news at waterkeeper.ca. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is a charitable organization,
no. 86262 2750 RR0001, and a proud member of Waterkeeper Alliance. Please
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