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Vancouver's yearly budget is more than $800 million. Is it time for cities to keep a track of the people who want a piece of the pie?

Once upon a time, he used to work in the highest levels of government. Now he's a consultant for one of the country's most prominent public affairs firms, and word is, he's well sought-after.

And why not? Behind government lines, he served as chief of staff to one government minister, as well as a senior analyst in a big-budget ministry.

His newest client is one of the world's largest corporations, with an expansive product line ranging from glue sticks and masking tape to fuel cells and bomb resistant windows.

What would this giant U.S. company want with the Canadian government?

A betting man might observe the company is particularly interested in government matters relating to public health, influenza, and pandemic preparedness.

Coincidentally, one of the company's big products happens to be a simple respirator device, which the World Health Organization believes could protect front line healthcare workers against a deadly strain of Avian Influenza - bird flu.

The problem is, the Canadian government hasn't officially recommended the respirators be used. The company evidently sees a major opportunity, however, which could be why, as of the middle of last month, it has retained the services of our aforementioned lobbyist.

There's a lot of money at stake and it can be easily wasted or spent

This isn't the sort of stuff that hits the newspapers everyday. But all this information is readily available to the public on the federal government's online registry of lobbyists.

British Columbia's got one too. As of yesterday, the province had 220 active registered lobbyists, people paid to lobby the government.

In fact, four provinces, as well as the federal government, have some form of registration system for lobbyists.

Noticeably absent from the list are local municipalities. A prominent citizen watchdog group says it's about time city governments get on board.

“If it's needed for the provinces, then it's needed for the city,” says Duff Conacher, coordinator of Ottawa-based Democracy Watch. “There's a lot of money at stake and it can be easily wasted or spent on politicians, city staff, friends, families or donors and supporters.”

Vancouver alone has a yearly operating budget hovering around the $800 million mark. This year, it will spend more than $150 million alone on purchasing. Add on the budgets of every city in the region, and Greater Vancouver as a whole has a buying power comparable to a small province.

But is a registration system for lobbyists really necessary at the city level? After all, a city hall lobbyist is just as likely to be a building developer with money on the line, as it is a concerned parent looking to install a speed bump on a busy street.

“We do get lobbied a lot. We get lobbied by non-profits. We get lobbied by citizens. We get lobbied by development consultants,” says NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton. “I don't see it as anything insidious or dangerous. I simply see it as people bringing their position to us on all manner of things.”

We get lobbied a lot. I don't see it as anything insidious or dangerous.

Anton says there are very few secrets at city hall.

“I think sometimes you can make life way more complicated than it needs to be by introducing too many rules and regulations,” Anton says.

COPE Coun. David Cadman supports some form of regulation for lobbyists, but also worries it could take away from the “personal touch” of civic governments.

“One of the things about local government that is a blessing is that it is local, and you can talk to your local politicians and have a discussion about issues that affect you,” Cadman says. “What I don't want to do is establish a bureaucratic mechanism that impedes us from being able to talk to people in this city, be they a business owner or a resident.”

In January, Vancouver commissioned a wide-reaching external governance audit. That audit, which will be reported to council this week, recommends the city review its policies on lobbying and lobbyists.

“We found that as we discussed the question of governance, the topic of lobbying came up,” explains May Brown, the former city councillor who chaired the audit committee. “It's interesting that the federal and provincial government has dealt with it, but at the civic level I don't think it's been dealt with.”

The City of Toronto is in the midst of establishing its own registry for lobbyists. It largely came about as a reaction to a computer leasing deal in the late 90's that ballooned into an embarrasing fiasco that cost taxpayers millions.

There are no suggestions whatsoever that Vancouver has the same problems, but Brown's committee studied the Toronto case anyhow and came to its conclusion.

"We want to be ahead of things in governance," Brown says.

When all is said and done, the people who seek to press their influence will find a way to do it

Actually, Vancouver's council already considered the issue last March - and rejected it. A motion put before council would have asked the province to institute a lobbyist registry for all cities. COPE councillors supported the motion, but NPA and Vision Vancouver councillors combined to defeat it.

And it's not as if the province has received heaps of praise for its problematic registry, which like all Canadian registries, relies on the honour system of lobbyists registering themselves.

What's left is a system full of loohopes, argues Democracy Watch's Conacher.

For example, lobbyists only have to register if they spend more than 20 per cent of their time lobbying. That works out to one day a week (assuming a five-day work week). What's more, that 20 per cent includes only actual lobbying time, not time spent researching or otherwise. Lobbyists can - and do - fly under the radar.

Instead, Conacher wants to make it mandatory for city councillors and city staff to disclose who is lobbying them.

“If you deal with it the other way, you'll always leave loopholes,” he says.

But Coun. Cadman says he has yet to see a lobbying registration system that works.

“When all is said and done, people who need to press their influence will find a way to do it,” Cadman says. “Is registering effectively going to change that?”

The key, says Conacher, is having stiff penalties - including jail terms - for those who flout the regulations.

“It's very hard to stop the influence of money in politics,” Conacher says. “But making it illegal discourages a lot of people from trying.”

Tags: vancouver, lobbyist, lobbying, city hall, politics, registry