Responsibilities of Public Office Holders with Regards to Lobbyists

The lobbyist registry discloses names of public office holders with whom lobbyists are communicating and on what topics. This allows interested citizens and media the opportunity to become aware of who or what organizations are trying to influence provincial government decisions.

The Lobbyists Act does not place any implicit responsibilities on public office holders with regards to meeting with lobbyists. It is the responsibility of each lobbyist to ensure he/she is compliant with the Act and to register their activities in the lobbyist registry.

Public officials have the right to ask if lobbyists have registered their activities on the public registry. The Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists recommends that public office holders regularly search the lobbyist registry. This will assist the public office holder in understanding what a lobbyist wants to meet about and who else the lobbyist may be speaking to. 

It is advisable that staffs at all levels are made aware of The Lobbyists Act and how it may apply to their work.

Gifts

Giving or promising a gift or personal benefit to a public office holder who is being lobbied, or whom a lobbyist intends to lobby may place the public office holder in a conflict of interest. As a result, the lobbyist would be breaching their obligations as a lobbyist under The Lobbyists Act.

It is important to note that an offer of a gift or personal benefit to a public office holder itself can be a breach of section 12 of the Act, even if the public office holder ultimately does not accept, or does not end up receiving or keeping the gift or personal benefit.

The onus remains on lobbyists to ensure that the offer of any gift or personal benefit to a public office holder complies with The Lobbyists Act before they make the offer.

PLEASE REFER TO THE REGISTRAR DIRECTIVE found at
https://www.sasklobbyistregistry.ca/resource-library/registrar-directives/ for more detailed information
on this topic.