Lobbyists gain with weak accountability legislation and regulations

"Revolving door" still exists between Conservative party political staff and industry front groups.

[January 7, 2008: A HarperIndex.ca update. Last week the Harper government broke yet another election promise – this time, to "require ministers and senior government officials to record their contacts with lobbyists". Instead lobbyists will have to to file monthly reports only on oral communications - not correspondence - with federal officials. The draft regulations published Friday to accompany the government's Lobbying Act are a reminder of the close relationship between the Harper government and corporate lobbyists.]

OTTAWA, November 12, 2007: With the Conservative caucus hiring corporate lobbyist Kory Teneycke as research director, attention has again focused on the close relationship between the Conservatives and corporate lobbyists. Teneycke is a long-time right-wing political activists and former executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, which lobbies principally for the ethanol industry.

In opposition, the Conservatives campaigned prominently against what they called a "revolving door" top-level political jobs and the lobbying industry - associations formed by corporations to promote their own interests.

An early piece of Conservative government legislation was the Federal Accountability Act, which, among other stated objectives, was intended to control lobbying, but none of its enabling regulations have been adopted or implemented.

Canadian Press reported yesterday on a lengthy list of Conservative political staff who have become lobbyists and vice versa.

Other top Conservatives have become lobbyists since Harper became prime minister. One of the most influential is Ken Boessenkool, who is registered to lobby the federal government on immunization policy on behalf of Merck Frosst Canada. He became friends with Stephen Harper in 1993 and has worked for the business-friendly C D Howe Institute. He was a policy advisor to Stockwell Day as Alberta Treasurer. Boessenkool has been linked, as a lobbyist, to the unexpected and controversial move to fund cervical cancer immunization announced in the federal budget last March.

Related individuals, organizations and significant events
Boessenkool, Ken - Long-time friend and advisor to PM lobbied for cancer drug plan in budget
Accountability concern contrasts with past campaigns for corporate political influence

Harper Conservative vs. Public Values Frame
  Corporate lobbying, insider influence / Democracy

Links and sources
  Lobbyists in, lobbyists out despite Tory promise to stop 'revolving door', The Canadian Press, November 11, 2007
  Tories break promise on lobbying, Globe and Mail, January 5, 2008

Posted: November 12, 2007

Harper Index (HarperIndex.ca) is a project of the Golden Lake Institute and the online publication StraightGoods.ca