At this afternoon’s Council meeting, as committed to during his Mayoral campaign, Mayor Tom Dyas will move a motion to direct City staff to begin work to create a municipal lobbyist registry.
“Throughout the campaign it was clear that people felt as if decisions were made long before they ever reached Council for a vote, and I committed to clearing the air by creating Kelowna’s first municipal lobbyist registry,” said Mayor Tom Dyas. “It’s important to me that I’m not the type of politician who says whatever it takes to get elected and then forgets about those conversations and promises I made once elected. That’s why it’s so important for me to move this motion.”
Dyas’ motion will require the support of half of Kelowna City Council and would direct city staff to begin work on a proposed lobbyist registry. A lobbyist registry would require developers, residents groups or anyone seeking to influence government decision-making to publicly register in the online registry. This will provide the public with information on how many times anyone met with local government officials to influence their decision-making and general information on what the meetings were about.
“Kelowna is no longer a small town with minor projects, we are among the fastest growing cities in Canada and we need to modernize our systems to ensure that City Hall has the transparency and accountability that residents want to see from their decision-makers,” said Dyas. “I look forward to continuing to work with Council, staff and residents on achieving many of the promises and commitments made by each one of our elected Council members.”
The City of Surrey is the only municipality with a lobbyist registry in British Columbia, however other cities across Canada have them, including the City of Toronto. Lobbyist registries exist both provincially and federally in Canada.