Lobbying is a legitimate activity in a free and democratic society. For the purpose of this Registry, the term “lobbying” is defined in section 1(1)(e) of the Lobbyists Act.  The term “MLA” means “Member of the Legislative Assembly” and “Assembly” means the “Legislative Assembly.”  Please refer to the Lobbyists Act for the exact text.  For both organization and consultant lobbyists, “lobbying” includes communicating with a public office holder in an attempt to influence:

• the development of any legislative proposal by the Government or a Prescribed Provincial Entity or by an MLA;
• the introduction, amendment, passage or defeat  of any Bill or Resolution in or before the Assembly;
• the development or the enactment of any Regulation or any Order in Council,
• the development, establishment, amendment or termination of any program, policy, directive or guideline of the Government or a Prescribed Provincial Entity;
• the awarding of any grant or financial benefit by or on behalf of the Government or a Prescribed Provincial Entity;
• a decision by the Executive Council or a member of the Executive Council to transfer from the Crown for consideration all or part of, or any interest in or asset of, any business, enterprise or institution that provides goods or services to the Crown or a Prescribed Provincial Entity or to the public, or
• A decision by the Executive Council or a member of the Executive Council regarding privatization of any goods or services to the Government.

For consultant lobbyists only, “Lobbying” also includes

Section 3(2) says that “lobbying” does not apply to a submission made in any manner as follows:

• in proceedings that are a matter of public record to a Committee of the Assembly or to any body or person having jurisdiction or powers conferred by or under an Act;
• to a Public Office Holder by on behalf of a person or an organization concerning
• (i) the enforcement, interpretation or application of any Act or Regulation by the Public Office Holder with respect to the person or organization, or
• (ii) the implementation or administration of any program, policy, directive or guideline by the Public Office Holder with respect to the person or organization;
• to a Public Office Holder on behalf of a person or organization in response to a request initiated by a Public Office Holder for advice or comment on any matter referred to in section 1(1)(e)(i) of the Act;

The Lobbyists Act defines two categories of lobbyists:

• A “consultant lobbyist” is a person who, for payment, undertakes to lobby on behalf of a client, and includes an individual engaged by a consultant lobbyist to lobby in respect of an undertaking.
  
  
• “Organization lobbyist” means an employee, officer or director of an organization who receives a payment for the performance of his or her functions, or a sole proprietor, or a partner in a partnership,
  
  (i) who lobbies or whose duty is to lobby on behalf of the organization at least 100 hours annually, or
  
  (ii) whose lobbying or duty to lobby on behalf of the organization together with the lobbying or the duty to lobby of other persons in the organization amounts to at least 100 hours annually.

A "Public Office Holder" is defined in the Lobbyists Act as:

• a Member of the Legislative Assembly and any individual on a Member’s staff,
• an employee of a department, and
• an employee, officer, director or member, as the case may be, of a Prescribed Provincial Entity;

For the purposes of the Lobbyists Act, the following persons are not considered to be consultant or organization lobbyists when acting in their official capacity:

• Members of the Legislative Assembly and members of the Executive Council, and any individuals on their staff;
• Officers and employees of the Legislative Assembly Office under the Legislative Assembly Act;
• individuals appointed under the Public Service Act.;
• employees, officers, directors and members of a Prescribed Provincial Entity;
• any other individuals or category of individuals prescribed in the Regulations.

The Lobbyists Act does not apply to any of the following persons when acting in their official capacity:

• Members of the Senate or House of Commons of Canada, the Legislative Assembly of another Province, the Council or Legislative Assembly of a Territory, or individuals on the staff of any of those Members.
• Employees of the Government of Canada or of the Government of another Province or of a Territory.
• Members of a Council or other statutory body charged with the administration of the civic or municipal affairs of a municipality, or individuals on the staff of any of those members.
• Officers or employees of municipalities.
• Members of a Metis Settlement Council or the General Council under the Metis Settlements Act or individuals on the staff of any of those members.
• Officers or employees of a Metis Settlement or the General Council under the Metis Settlements Act.
• Members of the Council of a Band as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Indian Act (Canada) or of the Council of an Indian Band established by an Act of the Parliament of Canada, individuals on the staff of any of those members, or employees of any of those Councils.
• Diplomatic agents, consular officers or official representatives in Canada of a foreign government.
• Directors, officers or employees of an organization referred to in section 1(1)(f)(iv) not constituted to serve management, union or professional interests nor having a majority of members that are profit-seeking enterprises or representatives of profit-seeking enterprises;
• Officials of a specialized agency of the United Nations in Canada or officials of any other international organization to whom privileges and immunities are granted by or under an Act of the Parliament of Canada.
• Members of the Boards of Trustees under the School Act, individuals on the staff of any of those members, or officers or employees of the Boards;
• A person acting as a volunteer who does not receive a payment;
• Any other individuals or categories of individuals prescribed in the regulations.

To complete the application process we require the following two items:

(1) User Agreement and Certification
You will be required to click a box during your "Getting Started" process to indicate you accept the terms and conditions of the User Agreement and that you Certify that to the best of your knowledge and belief the information you provide is true and correct. The User Agreement explains your rights and responsibilities in terms of the information collected and published on this web site.

(3) Online Application Form
You must complete and submit this form online. The information contained in this form is necessary to establish a record in our database. This Application Form is available by selecting "Getting Started" from "Lobbyist Login" on the top menu. After submitting this form you will see a link to the User Agreement which is available for download and printing in "Adobe pdf" format. If you don't have "Adobe Acrobat Reader" on your system, it is available free from Adobe's web site. A link to this site is available from the User Agreement page.

Once our Office has received an electronic notice of the above two items we will review them to ensure they are complete and correct. Once that has been verified we will create an account for you and you will be sent an email containing your Lobbyist ID and password. The email message also contains a URL link to the secure section of our web site restricted to lobbyists with valid accounts. When you click on or copy and paste this URL into your browser, you will be prompted to log in. After entering your Lobbyist ID and password we have provided, you will see a "Please Wait..." message while the system searches the database for your account; once the account is confirmed, you will see a button to create a New Registration which you may click on to create an initial registration

In accordance with section 9 of Lobbyists Act General Regulation 247/2009 made under the Lobbyists Act , the following fee is applicable to registrations:


1. There is no fee payable if a return is filed electronically

2. A return that is filed by paper or fax must be accompanied with a filing fee of $150.00 made payable to The Minister of Finance.

3. On application by a designated filer, the Registrar may reduce or waive the payment of the filing fee payable by the designated filer where the Registrar is of the opinion that to require payment of the filing fee would cause undue financial hardship.

Once your registration has been submitted, you may no longer edit the registration until it has been approved by the Registrar. Prior to approval, the form is available to you in "view only" mode indicated by the status of "Pending."

If you wish to amend your registration before it is approved and subsequently posted to the public registry, you must contact the Registrar immediately. The Registrar may then reset your registration to "draft" mode which will enable you to make changes.

If an error is identified after the registration has been approved, a Notice of Change may be submitted including the corrections.

When you apply to register on-line, an email acknowledging receipt of the application is automatically generated and sent to immediately but we may require up to 5 business days to complete our review of that application and create your account. If you apply to register by mail or fax, it may take up to 15 business days from the date of mailing for us to complete the work necessary to review your application and create your account.

As well, in accordance with the Lobbyists Act, we may request further information or clarification of information contained in the registration and such information must be provided to us within 30 days of that request. Once we have received the requested information or clarification, we will continue the process to create your account.

Consultant Lobbyists are required to register the particulars of each undertaking to lobby on behalf of a client but there is no requirement that this be renewed on a periodic basis. Each registration remains posted on the Active Registry until the consultant lobbyist registers a termination of that registration because the consultant lobbyist is no longer engaged in that undertaking.

Organization Lobbyists however are required to submit a renewal within 30 days after every six month anniversary date of the initial registration. An email notifying you that the date of renewal is approaching is automatically sent to you 30 days prior to the 6 month anniversary date and, once that email has been sent, you will be able to register your renewal.

The Lobbyists Act requires that all Consultant Lobbyists and Organization Lobbyists provide the Registrar with any changes to the information contained in the registration within 30 days after the change occurs or the lobbyist becomes aware of the change. As a convenience, our office has provided to all lobbyists the ability to file a “Notice of Change” at any time.

The Lobbyists Act also requires that all Organization Lobbyists renew their registrations on a semi-annual basis.

Organization Lobbyists will receive an email when their registration is due for semi-annual renewal.

There is a search option for both the Inactive Registry and Active Registry available from the top menu.

The Inactive Registry includes those registrations that have been "terminated" due to cessation of lobbying activities for any number of reasons.

The Active Registry includes those registrations that reflect current lobbying activities.

Selecting one of these options from the top menu takes you to a page containing extensive searching and sorting capabilities.

With respect to Consultant Lobbyists, the Lobbyists Act requires that the registration be completed by the “designated filer." The "designated filer" is

• the senior officer of an organization who occupies the highest ranking position in that organization and receives payment for the performance of his or her functions, or
• if there is no senior officer, then by each individual consultant lobbyist.

Provision is being made in Alberta for a "primary contact" to be designated within a firm to allow that primary contact to update multiple registrations relating to that firm.

The designated filer in respect of an undertaking entered into by a consultant lobbyist shall file a return in the prescribed form and containing the information required in Schedule 1 of the Act with the Registrar not later than 10 days after entering into the undertaking.

The designated filer is required to file only one return even though a consultant lobbyist named in the return may, in connection with that undertaking, communicate with one or more Public Office Holders on one or more occasions or arrange one or more meetings between a Public Office Holder and any other individual.

If the consultant lobbyist is performing an undertaking at the time that section 4 relating to a consultant lobbyist’s duty to file comes into force, the designated filer shall file a return with the Registrar not later than 30 days following section 4 coming into force.

You are not required to register for your activities as an unpaid volunteer in the lobbying activities of an exempt organization as defined in section 3(1)(i) of the Act . However, if you are being paid to lobby on behalf of the organization then you must register that undertaking just as you would any other undertaking.

The Act requires that the designated filer who filed the return shall inform the Registrar of the completion or termination of the undertaking within 30 days after the completion or termination.

The “designated filer” for the organization is the person who has to file the registration form. The "designated filer" means

• the senior officer of an organization who occupies the highest ranking position in that organization and receives payment for the performance of his or her functions, or
• if there is no senior officer, the organization lobbyist.

Provision is being made in Alberta for a "primary contact" to be designated within a firm to allow that primary contact to update multiple registrations relating to that firm.

No. The designated filer for the organization must list in the registration form the names of those employees who perform lobbying activities. The form should not be used to list the names of employees who do not lobby as defined by the Act.

Under the Lobbyists Act General Regulation, XXX/09, “time spent lobbying” means the time spent communicating with a public office holder but does not include time spent preparing for the communication.

Yes. The designated filer of an organization that has an organization lobbyist is required to file a return within 30 days after the expiration of each 6-month period following the date of filing the previous return.

• A person who contravenes section 4, 5, 6 or 10 or a prohibition imposed under section 19(5) is guilty of an offence.
• A person who lobbies without a return being filed as required by this Act is guilty of an offence.
• A person who provides false or misleading information in a return filed or other document submitted to the Registrar is guilty of an offence. The person is not guilty of an offence if the person did not know at the time that the information provided was false or misleading and, with the exercise of due diligence, could not have known that it was false or misleading.

Where the Registrar is of the opinion that a person has contravened a provision of the Act or the Regulations, the Registrar may, subject to the Regulations, by notice in writing served on the person personally or by mail, require that person to pay to the Crown an administrative penalty in the amount set out in the notice for each contravention. The maximum amount of an administrative penalty that may be imposed is $25,000 for a first offence. and up to $100,000 for second or subsequent offences.

A person who pays an administrative penalty in respect of a contravention may not be charged under the Act with an offence in respect of that contravention.

A person who has been served with a notice of administrative penalty shall pay the amount of the penalty within 30 days from the date of service of the notice.

Subject to the right to appeal, where a person fails to pay an administrative penalty in accordance with the notice of administrative penalty and the Regulations, the Registrar may file a copy of the notice of administrative penalty with the Clerk of the Court of Queen’s Bench and, on being filed, the notice has the same force and effect and may be enforced as if it were a judgment of the Court.

Under section 8 of the Lobbyists Act General Regulation (247/2009), a notice of administrative penalty may be appealed as follows:

The Registrar is an employee of the Office of the Ethics Commissioner who has been delegated by the Ethics Commissioner to carry out the functions and responsibilities of the Registrar under the Lobbyists Act. If the Ethics Commissioner does not delegate any person to act as Registrar, then the Ethics Commissioner is the Registrar. The Act states that the Registrar:

• shall establish and maintain a registry, which must be made available for public inspection,
• may verify information contained in any return or document submitted,
• may refuse to accept a return or other document that does not comply with the requirements of the Act or Regulations or that contains information not required to be provided or disclosed under the Act,
• may remove a return from the registry if the designated filer who filed the return does not comply with section 10(1)(c),
• may issue Interpretation Bulletins and Advisory Opinions with respect to the enforcement, interpretation, or application of the Act, but such are not binding on the Registrar,
• shall conduct an investigation if he or she has reason to believe one is necessary to ensure compliance with the Act,
• after conducting an investigation, shall prepare a report of the investigation, including the findings and conclusions and reasons for the Registrar’s conclusions, and submit the report to the Ethics Commissioner,
• where he or she is of the opinion that a person has contravened a provision of the Act or the Regulations, the Registrar may, subject to the Regulations, by notice in writing served on the person personally or by mail, require that person to pay to the Crown an administrative penalty in the amount set out in the notice for each contravention,
• subject to the right to appeal, where a person fails to pay an administrative penalty in accordance with the notice of administrative penalty and the Regulations, the Registrar may file a copy of the notice of administrative penalty with the Clerk of the Court of Queen’s Bench and have it enforced as a judgment of the Court,
• If a person is convicted of an offence, the Ethics Commissioner may, if satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest, taking into account the gravity of the offence or the number of previous convictions or administrative penalties imposed, if any, prohibit for a period of not more than 2 years the person who committed the offence from lobbying and from filing or having a return filed in respect of that person. If the Ethics Commissioner imposed a prohibition, the Registrar shall ensure that information relating to the prohibition is entered into the registry. The Ethics Commissioner may make public the nature of an offence, the name of the person who committed it, the punishment imposed and, if applicable, any prohibition.