City Hall and Developers

lob⋅by⋅ist


ˈlɒb i ɪst Show Spelled Pronunciation [lob-ee-ist]

“a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest”


Lobbying has been part of the political landscape since the beginning of time. Community groups, ratepayer associations, private companies, associations, not-for-profit groups are all lobbyists who want to influence public policy. Lobbying may be as benign as: an individual representing neighbours in front of council for a park or as significant as developers who want a change in the municipality’s official plan. Lobbying is legal and can be a good thing when it brings new information to an issue or lets the political system know how the constituency feels. But lobbying must have parameters and must be transparent to the general public.

Let’s focus on councils where I have some experience. My time on Burlington City Council indicated to me that lobbying takes place constantly with environment groups promoting sustainability, the art centre needing a new air conditioning system, ratepayer groups wanting less development or developers wanting members of council “on side” for their development. These issues will eventually be in front of council and the public should be aware of whom our politicians have been discussing the issue with and we can evaluate what impact lobbying is having on our political system. Therefore, not-for-profit and for-profit companies and associations should be registered as lobbyists and what contacts they have with council and staff. The list should be placed on the web site, in a timely fashion, for all to see and we will decide who is being influenced and who is not. There will be a cost to registering lobbyists but what is the cost of not registering lobbyists?


We must break the impression that developers have undo influence over community wishes and reinforce the idea that the community has equal power to put their position forward to our elected officials and staff. I don’t want to cast aspersions on all developers because some are honest and hard working but people feel they have little or no input into a issues of disagreement with their member of council. A community not engaged in the political process degrades the system and politicians. It is equally important for members of council to be aware of which other members of council and staff are discussing the issue with which developer so when it's time for council to vote, everyone will have equal knowledge as to developer's influence.

We have a right to know that a developer is having dinner with one or two members of council, how many times they have taken staff members to lunch, is a developer paying for members of council or staff to join them at an event or golf tournament. Without this information available to the public, they will continue to feel their influence is minimal compared to developers and will perpetuate the feeling of distrust in our elected officials.

It's my hope that a forward thinking member of council will introduce a motion to have staff prepare a report on lobbying. But a caution, staff can make this registry as complex and costly as they see fit, so I hope the Councillor will keep in mind the objectives of a registry and have input into the staff report.  Then we can have a full discussion on the topic that is clear and transparent. We need lobbyists to be registered to protect the public interests at Burlington City Hall and the Region of Halton. The perception is clear, if you’ve got the money to contribute to a campaign, a lunch to buy or an event to invite members of council to, you have disproportionate influence. It should be clear and transparent what is going on and a Lobbyists Registry would help in this regard. We should not leave the impression that money has more influence than community wishes.