Federal Accountability Act (S.C. 2006, c. 9)
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Assented to 2006-12-12
PART 1CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, ELECTION FINANCING, LOBBYING AND MINISTERS’ STAFF
R.S., c. 44 (4th Supp.)Lobbyists Registration Act
Amendments to Act
Marginal note:2004, c. 7, ss. 23, 24 and 39(4)
78. Sections 10.5 to 11 of the Act are replaced by the following:
Marginal note:Report on investigation
10.5 (1) After conducting an investigation, the Commissioner shall prepare a report of the investigation, including the findings, conclusions and reasons for the Commissioner’s conclusions, and submit it to the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who shall each table the report in the House over which he or she presides forthwith after receiving it or, if that House is not then sitting, on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the Speaker receives it.
Marginal note:Contents of report
(2) The report may contain details of any payment received, disbursement made or expense incurred by an individual who is required to file a return under subsection 5(1) or by an employee who, in accordance with paragraph 7(3)(f) or (f.1), is named in a return filed under subsection 7(1), in respect of any matter referred to in any of subparagraphs 5(1)(a)(i) to (vi) or 7(1)(a)(i) to (v), as the case may be, or of any payment made by the client of an individual who is required to file a return under subsection 5(1) in respect of any matter referred to in any of subparagraphs 5(1)(a)(i) to (vi), any communication referred to in paragraph 5(1)(a) or any meeting referred to in paragraph 5(1)(b), if the Commissioner considers publication of the details to be in the public interest.
REPORTS TO PARLIAMENT
Marginal note:Annual report
11. The Commissioner shall, within three months after the end of each fiscal year, prepare a report with regard to the administration of this Act during that fiscal year and submit the report to the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who shall each table the report in the House over which he or she presides forthwith after receiving it or, if that House is not then sitting, on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the Speaker receives it.
Marginal note:Special reports
11.1 (1) The Commissioner may, at any time, prepare a special report concerning any matter within the scope of the powers, duties and functions of the Commissioner if, in the opinion of the Commissioner, the matter is of such urgency or importance that a report on it should not be deferred until the next annual report.
Marginal note:Tabling of special report
(2) The Commissioner shall submit the special report to the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who shall each table the report in the House over which he or she presides forthwith after receiving it or, if that House is not then sitting, on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the Speaker receives it.
79. Section 12 of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (c):
(c.1) designating, individually or by class, any position occupied by a public office holder as a position occupied by a designated public office holder for the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition “designated public office holder” in subsection 2(1) if, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, doing so is necessary for the purposes of this Act;
Marginal note:1995, c. 12, s. 7
80. Section 14 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Marginal note:Contravention
14. (1) Every individual who fails to file a return as required under subsection 5(1) or (3) or 7(1) or (4), or knowingly makes any false or misleading statement in any return or other document submitted to the Commissioner under this Act or in any response provided relative to information sent under subsection 9.1(1), whether in electronic or other form, is guilty of an offence and liable
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both; and
(b) on proceedings by way of indictment, to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.
Marginal note:Other contraventions
(2) Every individual who contravenes any provision of this Act — other than subsections 5(1) and (3), 7(1) and (4) and 10.3(1) — or the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000.
Marginal note:Limitation
(3) Proceedings by way of summary conviction in respect of an offence under this section may be instituted at any time within but not later than five years after the day on which the Commissioner became aware of the subject-matter of the proceedings but, in any case, not later than ten years after the day on which the subject-matter of the proceedings arose.
Marginal note:Prohibition on communication
14.01 If a person is convicted of an offence under this Act, the Commissioner may — if satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest, taking into account the gravity of the offence and whether the offence was a second or subsequent offence under this Act — prohibit for a period of not more than two years the person who committed the offence from effecting any communication described in paragraph 5(1)(a) or 7(1)(a) or arranging a meeting referred to in paragraph 5(1)(b).
Marginal note:Publication
14.02 The Commissioner may make public the nature of the offence, the name of the person who committed it, the punishment imposed and, if applicable, any prohibition under section 14.01.
Marginal note:Replacement of references
81. The Act is amended by replacing “registrar” with “Commissioner” wherever it occurs in the following provisions:
(a) subsections 5(1) and (5);
(b) subsections 7(1) and (5);
(c) sections 7.1 to 7.3;
(d) subsections 9(2) to (4);
(e) section 10.2;
(f) section 10.4; and
(g) paragraphs 12(a) and (b).
Terminology
Marginal note:Replacement of references
82. Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to the Lobbyists Registration Act is replaced by a reference to the Lobbying Act wherever it occurs in regulations, as defined in section 2 of the Statutory Instruments Act and in any other instrument made in the execution of a power conferred under an Act of Parliament or by order or under the authority of the Governor in Council.
Transitional Provisions
Marginal note:Reference to Act
83. In sections 84 to 88.2 of this Act, the “other Act” means, before the day on which section 66 of this Act comes into force, the Lobbyists Registration Act and, from that day, the Lobbying Act.
Marginal note:Commissioner
84. (1) The person who holds the office of registrar immediately before the day on which section 68 of this Act comes into force is authorized to act as the Commissioner of Lobbying under the other Act until the appointment of a Commissioner under subsection 4.1(1) of the other Act — or of a person under subsection 4.1(4) of the other Act — as enacted by section 68 of this Act.
Marginal note:Employees
(2) The coming into force of section 68 of this Act does not affect the status of an employee — as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Public Service Employment Act — who occupied, immediately before the day on which that section 68 comes into force, a position in the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists, except that the employee from that day occupies that position in the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying.
Marginal note:Pending investigations
85. Any investigation by the registrar under the other Act that is pending immediately before the day on which section 77 of this Act comes into force may continue to be conducted by the Commissioner of Lobbying under the other Act.
Marginal note:Transfer of appropriations
86. Any amount that is appropriated, for the fiscal year in which section 71 of this Act comes into force, by an appropriation Act based on the Estimates for that year for defraying the charges and expenses of the federal public administration for the former registrar designated under section 8 of the other Act, as it read before the day on which that section 71 comes into force, and that, on that day, is unexpended is deemed, on that day, to be an amount appropriated for defraying the charges and expenses of the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying under the administration of the Commissioner of Lobbying referred to in subsection 4.1(1) of the other Act, as enacted by section 68 of this Act.
Marginal note:Contingent payments
87. Section 10.1 of the other Act, as enacted by section 75 of this Act, does not apply with respect to any contingent payment that, on the day on which that section 75 comes into force,
(a) was mentioned in a return in accordance with paragraph 5(2)(g) of the other Act as it read before the day on which subsection 69(2) of this Act comes into force; or
(b) was provided for in an undertaking entered into before the day on which that section 75 comes into force but for which a return was neither filed nor yet required, under subsection 5(1.1) of the other Act as it read before the day on which subsection 69(1) of this Act comes into force, to be filed.
Marginal note:Former designated public office holders
88. (1) For greater certainty, section 10.11 of the other Act, as enacted by section 75 of this Act, does not apply with respect to any ceasing to hold office or to be employed that is referred to in that section 10.11 and that occurred before the day on which that section 75 comes into force.
Marginal note:Assistant deputy ministers
(2) Section 10.11 of the other Act, as enacted by section 75 of this Act, also does not apply in respect of any ceasing to be a designated public office holder with the rank of assistant deputy minister or any office of equivalent rank that occurs during the six months after the day on which that section 75 comes into force.
Marginal note:Five-year prohibition — lobbying
88.1 (1) No individual who was a member of a transition team who ceased to carry out his or her functions as a transition team member after January 24, 2006 but before the coming into force of section 10.11 of the other Act, as enacted by section 75 of this Act, shall, during a period of five years after the day on which he or she ceased to carry out those functions
(a) carry on any of the activities referred to in paragraph 5(1)(a) or (b) of the other Act in the circumstances referred to in subsection 5(1) of the other Act;
(b) if the individual is employed by an organization, carry on any of the activities referred to in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the other Act on behalf of that organization; and
(c) if the individual is employed by a corporation, carry on any of the activities referred to in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the other Act on behalf of that corporation if carrying on those activities would constitute a significant part of the individual’s work on its behalf.
Marginal note:Exception
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a member of a transition team in respect of any activities referred to in that subsection that were carried out before the day on which this Act is assented to.
Marginal note:Contravention
(3) Every individual who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000.
Marginal note:Limitation
(4) Proceedings by way of summary conviction in respect of an offence under this section may be instituted at any time within but not later than five years after the day on which the registrar referred to in section 8 of the other Act became aware of the subject-matter of the proceedings but, in any case, not later than ten years after the day on which the subject-matter of the proceedings arose.
Marginal note:Definition
(5) For the purposes of this section, members of a transition team are those persons identified by the Prime Minister as having had the task of providing support and advice to him or her during the transition period leading up to the swearing in of the Prime Minister and his or her ministry.
Marginal note:Application for exemption
88.11 (1) Any member of a transition team referred to in section 88.1 may apply to the Commissioner of Lobbying for an exemption from that section.
Marginal note:Commissioner of Lobbying may exempt
(2) The Commissioner of Lobbying may, on any conditions that the Commissioner of Lobbying specifies, exempt the member from the application of section 88.1 having regard to any circumstance or factor that the Commissioner of Lobbying considers relevant, including the following:
(a) the circumstances under which the member left the functions referred to in subsection 88.1(5);
(b) the nature, and significance to the Government of Canada, of information that the member possessed by virtue of the functions referred to in subsection 88.1(5);
(c) the degree to which the member’s new employer might gain unfair commercial advantage by hiring the member;
(d) the authority and influence that the member possessed while having the functions referred to in subsection 88.1(5); and
(e) the disposition of other cases.
Marginal note:Publication
(3) The Commissioner of Lobbying shall without delay cause every exemption and the Commissioner of Lobbying’s reasons for it to be made available to the public.
Marginal note:Audit
(4) The Commissioner of Lobbying may verify the information contained in any application under subsection (1).
Marginal note:Publication
88.2 The registrar referred to in section 8 of the other Act may make public the nature of an offence committed under section 88.1, the name of the person who committed it and the punishment imposed.
Consequential Amendments
R.S., c. A-1Access to Information Act
89. The Access to Information Act is amended by adding the following in numerical order:
Marginal note:Records relating to investigations
16.2 (1) The Commissioner of Lobbying shall refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains information that was obtained or created by the Commissioner or on the Commissioner’s behalf in the course of an investigation conducted by or under the authority of the Commissioner.
Marginal note:Exception
(2) However, the Commissioner shall not refuse under subsection (1) to disclose any record that contains information that was created by the Commissioner or on the Commissioner's behalf in the course of an investigation conducted by, or under the authority of, the Commissioner once the investigation and all related proceedings, if any, are finally concluded.
Marginal note:SOR/2006-34
90. Schedule I to the Act is amended by striking out the following under the heading “Other Government Institutions”:
Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists
Bureau du directeur des lobbyistes
91. Schedule I to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order under the heading “Other Government Institutions”:
Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Commissariat au lobbying
R.S., c. F-11Financial Administration Act
Marginal note:SOR/2006-30; SOR/2006-31
92. Schedule I.1 to the Financial Administration Act is amended by striking out the following in column I:
Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists
Bureau du directeur des lobbyistes
and the corresponding reference in column II to the “President of the Treasury Board”.
93. Schedule I.1 to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order in column I:
Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Commissariat au lobbying
and a corresponding reference in column II to the “President of the Treasury Board”.
Marginal note:SOR/2006-32
94. Schedule IV to the Act is amended by striking out the following:
Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists
Bureau du directeur des lobbyistes
95. Schedule IV to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:
Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Commissariat au lobbying
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