{"id":28355,"date":"2019-05-08T15:24:20","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T19:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/?p=28355"},"modified":"2020-01-16T15:11:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T20:11:10","slug":"lobbying-in-pei-be-sure-to-comply-with-the-registration-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/legal\/2019\/05\/08\/lobbying-in-pei-be-sure-to-comply-with-the-registration-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Lobbying in PEI? Be Sure to Comply with the Registration Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prince Edward Island recently enacted lobbying legislation, becoming the final Canadian province to require reporting on lobbying activities.<a href=\"#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.princeedwardisland.ca\/sites\/default\/files\/legislation\/l-16-01-lobbyists_registration_act.pdf\"><em>Lobbyists Registration Act, <\/em>RSPEI c L-16.01<\/a><em> <\/em>impacts not only businesses but also voluntary organizations, charitable organizations, coalitions, interest groups, and not-for-profit corporations. The change in PEI is a <strong>good reminder for <\/strong><em><strong>all<\/strong><\/em><strong> Canadian charities<\/strong> to evaluate whether their activities are captured by applicable lobbying acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similar to other Canadian\ndefinitions, the PEI legislation defines lobbying as communicating with \u201ca\npublic-office holder, directly or through grass-roots communication, in an\nattempt to influence,\u201d among other things: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>the\ndevelopment of legislative proposals<\/li><li>the\nintroduction, passage, defeat or amendment of bills or resolutions<\/li><li>the making or\namending of regulations<\/li><li>the\ndevelopment, amendment or termination of policies or programs<\/li><li>the awarding\nof grants, contributions or other financial benefits<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGrass-roots communication\u201d means\nappeals to the public, whether through direct communication or mass media that tries\nto persuade them to, in turn, pressure public office-holders to endorse a\nparticular opinion. An important exception to the definition of grass-roots\ncommunication is communication between an organization and its members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is another important exemption\nsection in the legislation that lists activities not caught by the <em>Act<\/em>, such as making submissions to a\nlegislative committee where they are a matter of public record; making\nsubmissions with respect to the enforcement, interpretation or application of\nActs and regulations with respect to that organization; and making submissions\nin direct response to a public office-holder\u2019s request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public office holders are not only elected members of the Legislature, but also members\u2019 staff, government appointees, government employees, education authority employees, Crown officers and employees and others as specified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the PEI legislation, lobbyists are either \u201cconsultant\nlobbyists\u201d, i.e. external, paid lobbyists, or \u201cin-house lobbyists\u201d, whether\nemployed by a person\/partnership or an organization. Most charities would\nlikely fall in the latter category of an in-house lobbyist employed by an\norganization. That person is defined as an employee whose duties involve\nlobbying for at least fifty hours in a three-month period. Where multiple\nemployees lobby part-time, their activities would also fall under the Act if\ntheir combined time meets the fifty-hour\/three-month threshold. In that case,\nthe most senior officer of the organization is responsible for filing a return\nwith the Registrar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The return must be filed within two\nmonths after the day the employee becomes a lobbyists, and within 30 days of\nthe end of each six-month period after filing the previous return. The <em>Act <\/em>has a laundry list of information\nthat must be included in the Return (see s. 7(4)(a)-(p)). For organizations\nwith in-house lobbyists, there is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.princeedwardisland.ca\/sites\/default\/files\/legislation\/l16-01-1-lobbyists_registration_act_general_regulations.pdf\">no\nfiling fee<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Registry will be available for\npublic inspection online and there are significant fines (up to $25,000) for\nknowingly placing public office-holders in a real or potential conflict of\ninterest and for failure to comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is important that a charity <strong>continue to monitor its activities<\/strong> to <strong>ensure compliance<\/strong> with provincial and federal lobbying legislation. As CRA notes in its guidance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/revenue-agency\/services\/charities-giving\/charities\/policies-guidance\/public-policy-dialogue-development-activities.html#toc11\">CG-027, Public Policy Dialogue and Development Activities by Charities<\/a>, \u201ca charity that meets the requirements of the Income Tax Act as they relate to PPDDAs is not exempted from meeting any provincial [or federal] requirements on the use of its resources,\u201d lobbying acts included. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more information on lobbying, see\nthis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/bulletin_article\/250\/lobbying\/\">CCCC\nBulletin article<\/a>, the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/members_ch_show\/chapter_6#h3_7\">Charities as\nLobbyists<\/a>\u201d section of the Charities Handbook, and the\nfollowing government lobbying sites:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lobbycanada.gc.ca\/eic\/site\/012.nsf\/eng\/h_00000.html\">Canada,\nOffice of the Commissioner of Lobbying<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/novascotia.ca\/sns\/lobbyist\/\">Nova Scotia,\nRegistry of Lobbyists<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oic-bci.ca\/\">New Brunswick, Office of the Integrity Commissioner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.servicenl.gov.nl.ca\/registries\/lobbyists.html\">Newfoundland\nand Labrador, Registry of Lobbyists<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commissairelobby.qc.ca\/en\/lobbyists-registry\/\">Quebec,\nLobbyists Registry<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oico.on.ca\/home\/lobbyists-registration\/overview\">Ontario,\nOffice of the Integrity Commissioner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lobbyistregistrar.mb.ca\/index.php?lang=en\">Manitoba, Office of\nthe Lobbyist Registrar<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sasklobbyistregistry.ca\/\">Saskatchewan,\nOffice of the Registrar of Lobbyists<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.albertalobbyistregistry.ca\/apex\/f?p=171:CMS:8400514327606::::CMS_SITE%2CCMS_PAGE:ABLBY%2CHOME\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.albertalobbyistregistry.ca\">Alberta, Lobbyist Registry<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca\/\">British\nColumbia, Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists<\/a><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>\nOnly the territorial jurisdictions of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories do\nnot have lobbyist registration laws; Yukon has passed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.yk.ca\/legislation\/acts\/lore_2018.pdf\">a Lobbyists\nRegistration Act<\/a> but it is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.yk.ca\/legislation\/tps\/tps_l.html\">not yet in force<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prince Edward Island recently enacted lobbying legislation, becoming the final Canadian province to require reporting on lobbying activities. The Lobbyists Registration Act, RSPEI c L-16.01 impacts not only businesses but also voluntary organizations, charitable organizations, coalitions, interest groups, and not-for-profit corporations. The change in PEI is a good reminder for&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/legal\/2019\/05\/08\/lobbying-in-pei-be-sure-to-comply-with-the-registration-act\/\" class=\"linkbutton\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ts_fic_featured_image_caption":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-28355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28355"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=28355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}