Legal Research

Lobbyist registration searchability

By Shaunna Mireau

I like to look for patterns. Not for handicrafts like one of my knitting pals, but rather patterns in data.

I recently had the ~opportunity~ to look for patterns in lobbyist registrations. Unfortunately for me, there are almost as many registries as jurisdictions. The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada is the federal government registry. It has an excellent database with great search functionality and many options for accessing this information:

* Recent Registrations
* Search the Registry of Lobbyists
* Search Monthly Communications Reports
* Statistical Reports
* Multimedia Tutorials
* Login
* Guides to registration
* Tips About the Registration System
* Frequently Asked Questions

I particularly liked that one of the options was a free text search within a registration record.

Then there is the rest of the country. While the feds provide a great link list, few of the other registry sites live up to expectations. Disappointment ranges from Alberta’s “A searchable registry system is under development.” message to BC’s lack of anything except contacted names, hard to navigate lists. Nova Scotia only allows searches by lobbyists name, employer name, and client name. There is a search all for the Nova Scotia registry, but putting in the same term for all and for client name produces different results: 0 hits for all, and 2 hits for a client name. Newfoundland’s registry dies after one search, though you can pull up a list of all 108 registered lobbyists.

Ontario’s registry search is good and allows keyword searching, but their database is a little odd. If someone is lobbying for an association (not a business, not a society), the registration search result just shows blanks. The City of Toronto lobbyists registry has a non-functioning keyword search and the search results are only 10 to a page with very limited data. Quebec’s registry is only in French, which is fine, however, the search results are split between consultant lobbyists and lobbyists who are affiliated directly with an organization.

The one major complaint I have is that data input is not consistent. If there is a drop down list for the entity being targeted by lobbyists, the data reveals inconsistent ministry names and the list is not always alphabetically displayed. It is really hard to find patterns from inconsistent data.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on August 13, 2009 (boomark / email).