On March 14, the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut adjourned its 2017 Winter Sitting.

Bills considered by lawmakers included amendments to the Consumer Protection Act, the Inuit Language Protection Act, and the Human Rights Act.

The Assembly meets each year for a Winter Sitting, a Spring Sitting, and a Fall Sitting in October.

The legislature will reconvene for its Spring Sitting on Tuesday, May 30, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.

On March 10, the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories adjourned for the remainder of the winter.

During the session, lawmakers considered various supplementary appropriations dealing with infrastructure and operations expenditures, debated cutbacks, and passed a budget for the territories with all but two MLAs voting for it.

Under the new budget, the Department of Public Works and Services will be consolidated with the Transportation department.

The Second Session of the 18th Assembly will reconvene on Thursday, May 25, 2017.

On March 1, a new lobbying law took effect in the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario. By-law Number 47-2016 creates a Lobby Registry and Registration System and establishes the position and duties of the Lobbyist Registrar.

The new law covers consultant, in-house, and voluntary unpaid lobbyists. A return is required to be filed within five business days of a covered communication or may take place in advance of lobbying. Lobbyists must register a separate subject matter registration for each issue they lobby and must include a description of the issue being lobbied, who will be lobbied, and when the lobbying will occur or has occurred.

Former public office holders are prohibited from lobbying for one year after leaving their position. Lobbying on a contingency basis is also prohibited under the new law.

On April 3, five by-elections will be held for the Canadian House of Commons. On February 22, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced four by-elections for the electoral districts of Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Calgary Heritage and Calgary Midnapore, Alberta, and Markham—Thornhill, Ontario. Trudeau had previously announced on February 19 a by-election would be held for the electoral district of Ottawa—Vanier, Ontario.

The vacancies requiring the by-elections came about for different reasons. Last year, former prime minister Stephen Harper and member of Parliament(MP) Jason Kenney resigned from their House of Commons seat representing electoral districts Calgary Heritage and Calgary Midnapore, respectively.

The seats for electoral districts Saint-Laurent and Markham-Thornhill were left vacant last month after ministers Stephane Dion and John McCallum were named to diplomatic posts, according to the Globe and Mail. The seat representing electoral district Ottawa-Vanier became vacant when MP Mauril Belanger died last year from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

On February 21, Vancouver, British Columbia, City Councilmember Andrea Reimer intends to request the Council consider a city lobbyist registry.

In her notice of motion to the Council, Reimer is asking the municipal legislature to submit a request to the province to allow municipalities the ability to register lobbyists, create rules for lobbyist’s conduct in their interactions with elected officials and public servants, and the ability to enforce those rules. Reimer also wants the city to investigate the city of Surrey’s current lobbyist registry to determine the cost impact and any other information Vancouver may find helpful.

British Columbia does not permit municipalities to use the provincial lobbyist registry and has not given municipalities the legal authority to enforce lobbyist rules.

The Third Session of the 58th Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick adjourned on February 17. The legislature next meets on March 14, with an expected adjournment date of May 5.

Lawmakers continued to consider governmental ethics legislation, including bills to amend the Members’ Conflict of Interest Act, the Lobbyists’ Registration Act, and the Crown Construction Contracts Act. On February 16, the Act to Amend the Political Process Financing Act, which would have prohibited political contributions from corporations and trade unions, was defeated.

On February 16, several campaign finance bills were introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

Introduced as a private member’s bill by British Columbia’s New Democratic Party Leader John Horgan, the “Get Big Money Out of Politics Act” legislation bans union and corporate donations to political campaigns, allows only individuals normally residing in British Columbia to make political contributions, and restricts the premier and cabinet ministers from outside income.

Member of the Legislative Assembly Vicki Huntington’s bill, “Cash for Access Elimination Act, 2017,” prohibits members of the Executive Council and their employees from attending fundraising functions, personally soliciting political contributions, or attending or inviting individuals and organizations to attend fundraising functions. Huntington also submitted to the Assembly the “Election Finance Amendment Act, 2017,” which bans corporate and union donations, caps political donations at $1,500 a year, and allows them to be received only from British Columbians. The Local Elections Campaign Financing Act is also amended by this bill.

Additional bills introduced yesterday include the “Banning Publicly-funded Campaign Advertisements, 2017,” which bans government advertising during the four months preceding a general election, the “Fairness in Financing Local Government Elections Act, 2017,” which amends the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act to eliminate union and corporate donations in municipal election campaigns, and the “Fixed Fall Election Amendment Act, 2017,” which amends the Constitution Act to move the general election from May to October.

On February 16, the “Lobbyist Registry Reform Act, 2017,” was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

The bill restricts publicly funded organizations from pursuing lobbying activities, legislates a cooling off period of two years for public office holders and their staff and advisors, and calls for a review of the lobbying act every five years.

The legislation is a part of a package of campaign finance and ethics bills introduced by the New Democratic Party.

On July 8, Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson will conclude her appointed position with Canada’s federal ethics agency. Dawson has chosen not to seek reappointment as commissioner, according to The Hill Times.

Some critics had argued the possibility of a reappointment could have influenced Dawson’s impartiality with inquiries into the current Liberal government. Her appointment was to have ended in the summer of 2016, but was twice temporarily extended by the Liberal government.

Besides administering the federal conflict of interest laws for public office holders and members of the House of Commons, the Office of the Conflict and Ethics Commissioner provides confidential advice to the prime minister about conflicts of interest and ethics issues.

Rob Altemeyer, caucus chair for Manitoba’s New Democratic Party (NDP), will step down to focus more on issues within his constituency and his impending wedding.

Altemeyer’s resignation follows a lengthy two-day caucus discussion of a sexual harassment accusation against fellow NDP member Mohinder Saran.

Altemeyer stated he will remain the caucus chair until the NDP chooses a replacement.

Canadian Compliance Laws for Government Relations Professionals^TM, is for U.S.-based companies conducting or considering doing business in Canada; the United States’ largest trading partner.

It is critical to know the compliance rules and regulations for lobbying, making campaign contributions, and procurement lobbying in Canada.

The Canadian governments, federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal, have unique lobbying and political activities laws and regulations that can be unlike those in the U.S., and this publication details listings and summaries of each applicable law with full descriptions of registration and reporting requirements.

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On January 1, the Election Finances Statute Law Amendment Act took effect, prohibiting political contributions from corporations and labor unions and lowering the province’s contribution limits from individuals.

The new law also prohibits all provincial politicians, candidates, and senior political staffers from attending fundraising events, with certain exceptions.

Third-parties, who currently face no spending restrictions on advertising, are now limited to $100,000 per election period and $600,000 in the six months before a general election is called.

The NDP government in Alberta introduced legislation to limit what individuals can donate to political campaigns and limit the amount each party can spend during an election. Individuals would be limited to $4,000 in the aggregate per calendar year when giving to parties, constituency associations, candidates, leadership hopefuls, and nomination contests.

The proposals would also affect third-parties; such groups are similar to political action committees in the United States. Third-parties would only be permitted to spend $150,000 on advertisements each election period, with only $3,000 of those funds earmarked to support or oppose candidates. There would be no limits on third party spending outside of elections.

The Election Finances Statute Law Amendment Act was passed by the Legislative Assembly on December 1, 2016. It was introduced after an investigation into pay-to-play fundraising and cash for access scandals.

The investigation revealed that corporations and lobbyists had spent up to $10,000 to buy time with cabinet members in seeking policy decisions and contracts. The new amendment will prohibit all provincial politicians, candidates, and senior political staffers from attending fundraising events and ban contributions from corporations and unions.

In addition to these prohibitions, donations from individuals are limited to $1,200 per political party annually, down from $9,975 under the current system. Third-parties, who currently face no spending restrictions on advertising, will be capped at $100,000 per election period and $600,000 in the six months before a general election is called. A spending cap will also be placed on political party advertising at $1 million in the six months before a general election is called.

The bill was passed despite negative feedback regarding loopholes in the legislation. It will go into effect on January 1, 2017.