Politicians VS Ethical - The Lobby - Why the taxpayer allways paid - Part Four

Politicians vs ethical

Never confuse politicians words and ethics because it has no ethical politician, he looks at power and its interests only.

Part Four

                                      

 What is lobbying?

Often seen as secret and mysterious, lobbying gives rise to a host of speculations that contribute to maintain often misperceptions about its true nature. The result is a feeling of distrust of those who practice lobbying, a profession entirely legitimate, according to the National Assembly.

The view that lobbying has no place in a democratic society alters as the generalperception.In this context it is not surprising that people who engage in lobbying are reluctant to identify themselves as lobbyists. To see more clearly, it is important to distinguish the lobby lobbying and lobbyists.

                                                      Lobbying

Lobbying broadly in line with steps taken by a lobbyist to represent the interests of a lobby, a client,a business or an organization. These communications, oral or written, in order to influence a decision of a holder of public office.

                                      Are there different lobbies?

Lobby environmental groups lobbying the pharmaceutical industry or farming lobby, the term lobby is taken up regularly in the media. But what is a lobby? In general terms, a lobby is a pressure group or interest which is organized to promote a folder or to argue before public bodies a view shared by all its members. For example, the tobacco lobby could consolidate various stakeholders (citizens group of smokers, cigarette manufacturers, tobacco growers and grouping of sponsored events organizers) to form a lobby.

                  A communicator lobbyist is in the pay of a group

People who communicate with members of a public institution in order to influence decision a  are often specialized stakeholders called lobbyists. The lobbyist is not a person specializing in public relations; it may as well be a lawyer, engineer, town planner or geologist, former minister as Mr. Lucien Bouchard, for example.

In essence, the function of the lobbyist is to speak on behalf of the lobby,a customer, a business or organization he represents in order to exert influence on a public office holder.  

As a representative of a lobby, a client, a business or an organization, lobbyist must have a solid understanding not only of files which it is responsible, but also political and administrative structures of each of the instances where the file should be routed. It must also develop intervention strategies and learn effectively communicate its message.

The Lobbying is a legitimatein

Since June 2002Canada,Quebec, lobbying is expressly recognized by the Law on transparency and ethics in lobbying as an entirely legitimate activity. This practice is regulated not only in Quebec but also in Canada (federally), in some other provinces (British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and Toronto) and that in the United States.

In our free and democratic society, the lobbyist is important because it can provide the public office holder of the relevant information to help make informed decisions on often very complex subjects ( example, the impact of pesticide use on the environment, water fluoridation, the urban development plan, the Kyoto Protocol, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), etc.).

In addition, lobbying is a way to have access to institutions for all citizens or interest groups. For example, both of the asphalt lobby or its competitor, the lobby of the concrete industry,everyone has the right to present its views to the Ministry of Transport as to road . In this case, the influence of both lobbies is legitimate insofar as lobbyists comply with the Act, that is to say that they act in full transparency and in compliance with the code of conduct.

Finally, the lobbyist respects the law and acts transparently improves democracy. It thus gives the opportunity to citizens to access information through a public registry allowing it to exercise its right to information.

A lobby is a pressure group that attempts to influence laws, regulations, setting standards (eg industrial), decisions ... in order to promote its own economic interests in general. A lobby can be a more or less formal grouping of actors who share common interests or belong to the same sector of employment.
Also referred to as interest groups or influential group.

Definition of pressure group that serves only his personal interests

A pressure group or interest group is asocial group more or less organizedthat puts pressure on the government to defend its interests, whether economic, physical, financial, humanitarian or moral. It may seek to promote changes in legislation or policy changes that are favorable to them or to prevent them if they are unfavorable.

The pressure group can take the form of a structured organization that seeks to influence policy makers. It differs from political parties since it does not defend the general interest and is not seeking election.

His modes of action can be discrete (lobbying, participation in consultative bodies, network activation, corruption) or public ( statement, petition, protest, etc.)

Examples: professional organization, specialized firms on behalf of companies, non-governmental organization (NGO) as an example: Green Peace, chambers of commerce, trade unions, student associations, College of Physicians, House Notaries, Association of Mayors of Quebec, etc.

Our lobbyists in our institutions

Public institutions financed from taxpayer money spent of tens  thousands of dollars to hire lobbyists representing them to government, during the three recent years.

Universities, colleges and hospitals,some of which are within a few kilometers of the National Assembly, have so paid specialists from governmental representation to obtain additional financing or to amend bylaws.

The University Laval, for example, was represented by three lobbyists in 2009, each working on a separate mandate.The head of the office of the National office in Quebec, Luc Ouellet, was among them, as a former adviser to Jean Charest Daraiche Martin,who now works for the same company.

Two years earlier, in 2007, the institution had granted a mandate to the firm, Tactix Government Consulting whose offices are located in Ottawa.

The Hospital of the University of Montreal,meanwhile, could count in 2008 on the services of two lawyers registered in the register of lobbyists to change two bylaws projects.

Only in 2009,lobbyist Patrice Ryan  firm of Ryan Public Affairs,received $ 24,000 from the University of Montreal, said the institution's spokesperson. Its mandate, which extended over a period of two years according to the register of lobbyists, was essentially linked to the development of a new campus in Outremont.

The actors of the education and health networks were numerous in recent years to condemn what they often called underfunding of their activities by the Quebec government.

The total amount of public money spent on such contracts is difficult to establish because the provincial register of lobbyists that provides a price range instead of the correct fees paid. Some institutions have refused to disclose the amount of those contracts without a formal request under the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies. This is particularly the case of Laval University.

The Federal Register, meanwhile, do contains no indication of the fees paid to lobbyists.

Between 2007 and 2010, mandates recorded the provincial register of lobbyists by public institutions may total a maximum of up to $ 340,000, according to calculations by The Associated Press.

"If we are told that one side wants more money for more teachers and the other it is used to pay for lobbyists, it's quite shocking "launched the President of the Student Federation University of Quebec, Louis-Philippe Savoie, in a telephone interview.

"It is believed that more transparency in the management of Quebec's universities."

Same story in college students. Léo Bureau-Blouin, president of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec, stated belief that face the under-funding of the network, colleges should "establish structural solutions and not move right and left to hire lobbyists who will do promoting a particular college.

"For Peter Dietsch,a professor specializing in ethics at the University of Montreal, there is a net loss to the taxpayer, which is found in no better

served."The Public lobbying costs represent a form of waste because we could invest those funds into health or education instead of investing them in lobbying.

"This form of lobbying does not increase public resources, he only ensure that these public resources are distributed differently, he said.

"The taxpayer pays the bill has reason to complain of this waste, precisely because he pays his taxes for certain public services"he has pleaded before mentioning it may be tempting for some organizations to conclude such contracts when competing for the same budget.

This is not the opinion of Sylvie Fortin,Director Communications CEGEP who made ​​the decision to do business with a lobbyist.

His employer, the Collège François-Xavier-Garneau in Quebec City, has contributed $ 12,000 to Pierre Beaulieu of the firm Strategic Pathf or the assist in obtaining the support of the provincial government as part of the realization of a sports field made ​​of synthetic material.

Ms. Fortin says that the lack of expertise within the college administration, support M . Beaulieu had allowed this project to succeed.

"It's a small college in terms of administration. We are twenty frames, only one engineer, who had to plan grant applications and the work themselves, "said she argued.

She confessed understand that some might be frustrated taxpayers of award of such contracts, but argued that ultimately, $ 12,000 is a minimal amount of $ 4.5 million necessitated by the project.

"On the question arises whenever we allow contracts that nature. We realize that, given the scale of the project account, you need to get help, "she pleaded, noting that it could also analyze this issue from a taxpayer's point of

view."It was un $ 12,000 well invested.

"Casesin Ontario

Revelations concerning the use of public funds to hire lobbyists have already surfaced in Ontario in early October. The amounts involved, however, were much higher than here.

The NDP members at Queen's Park have accused universities in the province to have spent nearly a million dollars for such control. The expenses of this nature totaled almost $ 500,000 for the sole York University in Toronto.

Fourteen Ontario hospitals had also seen fit to spend a portion of their budget to hire lobbyists.

The information has embarrassed the government of Dalton McGuinty,that n has been quick to condemn these expenses and to promise a bill to ban. Are we all, taxpayers turkey stuffing?