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The Canadian Wheat Board was one of 90 government or government-connected agencies reminded by the Conservative government last week that they cannot use outside lobbyists to influence Ottawa.
The CWB received the letter from Privy Council clerk Wayne Wouters Nov. 16 afternoon and was scrambling to figure out if it would have much effect.
Employees registered as lobbyists including Winnipeg-based government relations director Avis Gray and Ottawa-based “liaison officer” Ron Davidson would not be covered by the ban, said Treasury Board media relations chief Robert Makichuk.
“Crown corporations and others have in-house lobbyists, even the CBC, and that is not the object of this,” he said in an interview Nov. 16.
“That is not the same as hiring a paid lobbyist.”
At the CWB, media relations manager John Lyons said late Nov. 16 the board still was trying to figure out the impact.
“We received the letter just this afternoon,” he said in an interview from Winnipeg.
“We don’t know the impact it will have if any. We will have to follow up with Treasury Board.”
He said the CWB has in the past hired Ottawa lobbyists who have registered to represent the board for their expertise on technical files such as railway issues or trade. “We will have to clarify if that is covered.”
Wouters, the government’s most senior bureaucrat, said in his Nov. 13 letter to government-connected organizations that he was writing at the request of prime minister Stephen Harper to remind them of a 24-year-old policy first set for Crown corporations and since extended to other organizations.
In the House of Commons Nov. 16, Treasury Board president Vic Toews from rural Manitoba said government-connected entities do not need an intermediary to deal with government.
“The use of consultant lobbyists for communicating and lobbying the federal government is an unnecessary use of public funds,” he said. “These interactions should be conducted directly and without use of publicly funded lobbyists.”
