Thank you, Mr. Speaker. New legislation would be required to establish a lobbyist registry. In other jurisdictions where lobbyist legislation exists, the responsibility for managing a lobbyist registry is usually assigned in that legislation to an offer of the Legislature. For example, in Alberta, the lobbyist registry falls under the purview of the Ethics Councillor; the Government of Canada has a Commissioner of Lobbying.
We certainly agree that transparency is important and there’s no reason why the public should not know with whom Ministers are meeting and why. That information is available now upon request. There is nothing to hide. To date, we have not received any such requests. Ministers meet
regularly with representatives of all sectors. I can state with certainty that we met with representatives of Aboriginal governments and non-government organizations far more frequently than we do with paid lobbyists. In fact, the number of paid lobbyists active in the Northwest Territories that would meet the definition of lobbyist in federal and most provincial legislation can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The old adage of making a mountain out of a molehill comes to mind.
Nevertheless, this government is not opposed to exploring the question of whether or not a lobbyist registry should be established. However, given the small number of paid lobbyists in the Northwest Territories, the infrequency of their meetings with Ministers and the lack of time remaining in the term to develop new legislation and identify resources to establish the registry, we suggest that this matter be referred to the next Assembly for their consideration.
The government will be abstaining from voting on the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.