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Lobbyists Registration Act Comes Into Effect

Thursday, 15 October 2020 15:31

Lobbying refers to communicating with a public office holder in an attempt to influence decisions relating to legislation, programs, services, procurement and funding arrangements. Public office holder refers to Ministers and MLAs, caucus staff, Cabinet staff and Yukon public servants.

All lobbyists in Yukon will now be required to report their activities. The Lobbyists Registration Act came into effect on October 15, 2020, making registration mandatory for those who meet the criteria set out in the Act.

The public can visit yukonlobbyistregistry.ca or refer to the Lobbyists Registration Act to learn more about:

  • who qualifies as a lobbyist and needs to register, including the two types of lobbyist (in-house and consultant);
  • timelines for registering and other reporting requirements; and
  • information lobbyists must provide when reporting on their lobbying activities, such as the name of their organization or client, contact information, the public office holder or department they plan to lobby, the topic related to their lobbying, and the method of communication.

Lobbyists will be responsible for entering their information into the registry. From the day the Act comes into effect, there is a 90-day grace period for lobbyists to give them enough time to learn and adhere to the new registration and reporting requirements.

The Conflict of Interest Commissioner is responsible for maintaining and overseeing the Yukon Lobbyist Registry to ensure it remains independent from other government decisions.

"Yukoners need to know who is communicating with government regarding important decisions that directly affect them. The Yukon Lobbyist Registry supports our government’s commitment to openness, transparency and accountability by making this information readily available to the public." Premier Sandy Silver

 

Lobbying refers to communicating with a public office holder in an attempt to influence decisions relating to legislation, programs, services, procurement and funding arrangements. Public office holder refers to Ministers and MLAs, caucus staff, Cabinet staff and Yukon public servants.

There are two types of lobbyists, consultant and in-house:

  • Consultant lobbyists lobby on behalf of a client. They must register regardless of how much lobbying they do.
  • In-house lobbyists are employees, heads of organizations or board members (or other “directing minds”) that lobby on behalf of their organization. Their organization must register if staff or directing minds collectively lobby for 20 hours or more per year.

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