The Committee met twice this week on Feb 14th and 16th, 2012, to discuss potential amendments to the Lobbying Act at the federal level. Witnesses included the Canadian Bar Association and a Professor of Political Science from Universitè Laval. Both witnesses testified of the importance and value of changing the Lobbying Act to better define the who, what and why of lobbying activities. On Feb 14th, NDP MP Pierre-Luc Dussealt put forward a motion to bring the RCMP to the Committee as witnesses. The Committee was voted ‘in camera’ to consider the motion. The Minutes can be found here.
The Committee has been studying the Lobbying Act for a few weeks now to gain insight of what changes need to occur to better the Act and provide a more transparent system to Canadians.