On June 8, Quebec’s Commissioner of Lobbying François Casgrain, scheduled to retire this month, urged lawmakers to pass lobbying law reform.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Casgrain, who is leaving the position after eight years due to health reasons, is disappointed with the lack of progress in updating the lobbying laws. Casgrain has pushed for the passage of Bill 56, the Lobbying Transparency Act, which was first introduced in 2015. The legislation would expand the scope of the definition of lobbyists to include shareholders lobbying for an entity as well as directors and officers of a nonprofit. The bill would also expand the types of activity considered to be lobbying and impose stricter penalties and higher fines on violators of the law.

Casgrain will step down as Commissioner of Lobbying on June 30.

Quebec’s Lobbying Commissioner, François Casgrain, has proposed a major overhaul of the province’s law on lobbying that would expand the number of people required to register as lobbyists. Currently, only people who spend a “significant part” of their time lobbying must register. The proposed changes would require anyone seeking to influence the decision of a public official to register.

Registration would have to be completed by individual lobbyists, ending the practice of employers registering for them. Casgrain wants to expand the enforcement powers of the commission and increase fines for breaking the law. There also would be a blackout on lobbying between publication of a call for tenders on a public contract and the awarding of the contract.

The call for change follows a finding that some parties failed to register as lobbyists during negotiations of a controversial contract award for the still-unbuilt arena.