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Lobbying in Quebec

Henry is a lawyer in a city with twenty-five thousand residents. He works on his own. His clients work in many industries such as construction and agriculture. As a professional, Henry takes care of contracts and legal proceedings related to his clients’ businesses. Over the years, Henry has become an influential person in the city. He knows lots of people, including several members of City Council, some municipal employees, the member of the National Assembly and some provincial public servants in the region.

His clients sometimes ask him to use his contacts to help them out, for example, to obtain contracts or permits, or to resolve problems with different Quebec officials or agencies.

Henry has just found out that there is a law that regulates lobbying. He wonders if it applies to him.

In this Infosheet, Éducaloi informs you about what lobbying activities are, who is a lobbyist and who is considered to be a public office holder.

What is lobbying?

In general, lobbying is when a person communicates orally or in writing with a public office holder, in order to influence a legislative or administrative decision. By engaging in lobbying activities, an individual, groups of people, non-profit organizations and even businesses, can influence public decision-makers in the National Assembly, the government, municipalities, government enterprises and non-profit organizations that run public activities.

Lobbyists give information to decision-makers on many issues. The lobbyist provides public authorities with more complete information about a particular issue, allowing them to make enlightened decisions. This aspect is especially important in complex fields of activity.

Lobbying exists all over the world. It is regulated in many countries, including the United States.

In Quebec, lobbying is recognized by the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act: it is a legitimate practice. Quebec law governs lobbying activities aimed at:

• provincial and municipal elected officials;
  
• public servants working in the provincial and municipal governments;
  
• people appointed in certain government organizations or businesses, such as the CSST, the SAAQ, Loto-Québec, the SAQ, Hydro-Québec, the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec, etc. and the staff of these organizations;
  
• people appointed in certain non-profit organizations (such as the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec) and the staff of these organizations.

Here is an example of lobbying:

Some members of the Association of Llama Farmers of Quebec hear about a new law governing livestock operations. Certain provisions of this law don’t take into account problems that are unique to raising llamas. The president of the association sends the Minister responsible a report on the subject to inform him of the details of this activity, and to ask that changes be made to the law.

The public has the right to know who is trying to influence public authorities; this is the transparency objective of the law. This means that lobbyists have to sign in at a registry that is publicly-available. They also have to reveal the object of their lobbying activities. To learn more about registering as a lobbyist, consult the Infosheet entitled "The public nature of lobbying: registration."

To learn more about the rules of lobbying, consult the Infosheet, "Rules for the exercise of lobbying activities."

How does Quebec law define lobbying?

In Quebec, lobbying is defined as follows:

• all verbal or written communication;
  
• with a public office holder;
  
• in an attempt to influence (or that may reasonably be considered capable of influencing);
  
• certain decisions.

Each of these concepts is explained in greater detail in this Infosheet.

Who is considered to be a lobbyist?

The law distinguishes between three kinds of lobbyists:

• Consultant lobbyist
  
  This is a person who engages in lobbying activities for another person in return for money, benefits or other kinds of compensation. The consultant lobbyist can work in a public relations firm or work independently. He can be, for example, a specialist in public relations, a lawyer, an engineer, etc.
  
  Henry is a good example of a consultant lobbyist because he does his lobbying activities for some of his clients and is paid for this work.
  
  
• Enterprise lobbyist
  
  This person has a position inside a for-profit business and a significant part (to be defined in the following question) of his work includes lobbying activities.
  
  For example, Gordon is employed by a business that makes concrete. His job functions mainly involve making presentations to the Ministry of Transport to encourage it to use this material to construct roads.
  
  
• Organization lobbyist
  
  This kind of lobbyist conducts his activities in a non-profit organization. Like the enterprise lobbyist, the organization lobbyist is only covered by the law if a significant part of his job involves lobbying activities.
  
  For example, Tran is employed by the Chemical Product Manufacturers Association. His job mainly involves lobbying the Ministry of the Environment.
  
  Not all non-profit organizations are subject to this law. Only organizations created to work for the goals of employers, unions, professions, and those whose members are mainly for-profit businesses or business representatives are covered by the rules on lobbying activities.
  
  For example, the various boards of trade, the Conseil du patronat du Québec, the Barreau du Québec, the Collège des médecins, the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ) and other unions are covered by the law. On the other hand, the Association des personnes souffrant de dépression, or a group of citizens protesting municipal de-mergers will be excluded from the application of the law.

What does the phrase “a significant part” mean?

When determining whether someone’s lobbying activities represent a “significant part” of his work, all of his lobbying activities with a given group of people or organizations that are identified by the law (mentioned in the first question), must be considered.

The two tests assist in making a more precise determination of the situations where the most senior director of an organization or of a company, must register the name of one of his employees in the in the lobbyist registry:

Qualitative test

If a member of the board of directors participates in lobbying, regardless of the amount of time devoted to this work, his name must automatically be added to the registry.

Once an employee’s lobbying activities have had a significant impact on the business or organization represented (for example, his lobbying made it possible to finalize an important project), his name must also be registered.

Quantitative test

The employee’s name must be registered as soon as his lobbying efforts total 12 days of work. To calculate these 12 days, the following factors must be considered:

• Time spent by the lobbyist in communicating with public office holders;
  
  
• Time required for the lobbyist to prepare communication (deciding which public office holders to target, preparation of documents, research, reports, etc.);
  
  
• Time that the lobbyist devotes to following up on lobbying activities (thank-you letters, sending documents, etc.)
  
  
• Work done by other people (accountants, experts, colleagues, etc.) who do work for the business or organization which is directly linked to preparing and following up on lobbying activities.

For more information you can consult the notice of the Lobbyists Commissioner  (http://www.commissairelobby.qc.ca/en/documents/x_fichiers/631_avis_2005-07_en.pdf) on this topic (PDF).

What do we mean by “all oral or written communication”?

This phrase includes all means of communication, such as:

• conversations;
  
• a telephone call or video conference;
  
• sending an email;
  
• sending a letter, a report, a release;
  
• etc.

The phrase has a broad meaning.

Who are public office holders?

All people who work at the National Assembly, at the government of Quebec and those who work in municipalities of over 10,000 residents are considered to be public office holders. This includes:

• ministers, deputy ministers, members of the National Assembly, as well as the staff members working for these people (political attachés, etc.);
  
• members of government staff, provincial public servants;
  
• managers and employees of government businesses and organizations;
  
• people appointed to non-profit organizations that run and give financial support to public activities, without offering products or services to the public themselves;
  
• mayors, councillors, directors, clerks, municipal public servants.

This vast definition can include, for example, Jean, a municipal public servant responsible for giving construction permits.

In their own job functions, public office holders aren’t subject to the lobbying rules themselves. The law states that public office holders are not considered to be conducting lobbying activities when they communicate among themselves.

In addition, the law states that the following people, among others, are also excluded from the application of these rules in the course of their work:

• Senators, federal Members of Parliament or members of the legislative assemblies of other provinces;
  
• employees of the Government of Canada or of another province;
  
• band council members;
  
• diplomatic agents, and consular staff from foreign countries;
  
• official representatives of other countries or certain international organizations (the United Nations, for example).

Must the lobbyist really intend to influence a public office holder to be engaged in lobbying activity?

All communication that is done specifically to influence decision making is covered by the Act.

But the law also prevents people from avoiding the rules by just claiming that they never meant to influence the public office holder by communicating with him. For lobbying to take place under the Act, all that must occur is:

• a verbal or written communication with a public office holder is made;
  
• it is done it in order to influence decision making, or if it could be expected that the person would think that it might influence the decision.

What decisions by public office holders aren’t included in the law?

Lobbying is defined as a way to influence decision making by public office holders. The law focuses on specific kinds of decisions, mainly decisions on whether to:

• develop, change, adopt or reject a law, regulation or resolution;
  
• develop, change, adopt or reject a policy, program or plan of action;
  
• grant a licence, certificate or other authorization;
  
• grant a contract (where there is a call for tenders by invitation or a contract by mutual agreement), a subsidy, another financial benefit (like a loan or loan guarantee) or another form of benefit by regulation;
  
• nominate certain public administrators, as in the nomination of a deputy minister or assistant deputy minister.

Getting another person into a meeting with a public office holder is considered a lobbying activity.

For example, Henry has a visit from Peggy, who has been his client for a long time. She works in the home construction industry. Peggy has a problem: residential construction isn’t allowed in the part of the city where she wants to develop her latest project. Despite taking the usual steps, the City refuses to allow changes to the urban development plan and the zoning regulation. She wants to hire Henry to try to talk to municipal council members in order to convince them to change the plan and the regulations. If Henry accepts to help Peggy out, he will be engaging in lobbying activity.

Other decisions aren’t included in the law. The law specifies certain activities or decisions that are not covered; these are listed in the following question.

What activities aren’t included in the law?

Certain lobbying activities are specifically excluded from the application of the Act. Among these we find:

• communication made during or while preparing for legal proceedings (sending a demand letter, negotiating a settlement out of court with a ministry, etc.)
  
• statements made during a parliamentary commission (filing and presenting a memorandum, testifying, etc.);
  
• answers to a written request from a public office holder;
  
• communication related to the performance of a contract, or done during a public call for tenders, as long as the communication doesn’t seek to change the way the call for tenders process works;
  
• statements made during a public meeting of a municipality or municipal organization like an MRC or a municipal transportation commission, or during public proceedings or proceedings known to the public (commission of inquiry, BAPE, etc.);
  
• inquiries about the nature or extent of a right or obligation belonging to a client, a business or an organization;
  
• statements made during the negotiation of an employment contract.

For example, Louise is the president of the Small Power Station Owners Association. She just received a letter from the Energy Minister. He has invited her to meet with him to explain the association’s point of view on a proposed law covering small power stations. Louise asks Henry, her lawyer, to come with her to this meeting. Even if Henry uses the meeting to try and influence the Minister, this won’t be covered by the lobbying rules because the communication is done at the Minister’s written request.

Also, the Act doesn’t apply to lobbying activities done by enterprise or organization lobbyists when it involves granting a permit, licence or contract, or a certificate, subsidy or other financial benefit, as long as the public office holder who makes the decision is only supposed to verify that the conditions of the law are respected.

An example would be if an organization lobbyist requested a subsidy from a civil servant who only had the power to make sure that the conditions provided by law were fulfilled before granting it.

Communication done outside any decision-making process, aimed only at letting a public office holder know about a good or service, is also excluded from the Act.

The Act provides certain other exceptions that aren’t listed in this Infosheet. Consult the text of the law for a complete list of exceptions.