The AMS’s VP External portfolio lobbies different levels of government for student interests, but public records show that the AMS hasn’t been following lobbyist registration rules since 2019.
As an organization with paid staff lobbying public officials, the AMS is required by provincial and federal law to maintain an active registration with lobbyist registries in Victoria and Ottawa and regularly report its lobbying activities.
However, the AMS’s most recent registration with the BC Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists (ORL) became inactive on March 6, 2019. Filed by Keith Hester, AMS managing director, the registration lists former VP External Cristina Ilnitchi and two staffers as lobbyists.
Under the provincial Lobbyists Transparency Act, effective May 4, 2020, lobbyists are required to file registration within ten days of beginning to lobby, including organizing meetings and other communication with public office holders with a goal of influencing their lawmaking.
After beginning work, lobbyists must report their activities provincially for each month that lobbying has occurred.
“Our goal is to ensure that there is transparency in lobbying activities in the province through lobbyists following the rules in the Lobbyist Transparency Act,” said oline Twiss, ORL deputy commissioner.
Provincial law previously required lobbyist organizations to register only if they passed a 100-hour threshold for lobbying activities, but this was eliminated in the new legislation.
While not currently registered with the province, the AMS has had an active registration with the federal Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada (OCL) since June 17, 2020. Also filed by Hester, the registration lists AMS President Cole Evans and Policy Advisor Patrick Meehan as lobbyists. Meehan no longer holds the role, current VP External Kalith Nanayakkara said.
The only lobbying reports listed on the federal registry are from October 22 to 24, 2019, where Hester logged three days of communications with public office holders. But the filings appear to list provincial politicians such as BC Premier John Horgan and Minister of Advanced Education Melanie Mark, among others.
In an apparent mistake, Hester reported all figures as being members of the House of Commons in Ottawa, not the BC Legislature. No filings about these communications appear on the provincial registry.
Scott Whamond, OCL policy advisor, said that the federal registry isn’t the appropriate place to report provincial lobbying activities. “Really, the purpose of the federal registry is to have the information of communications with federal public office holders recorded.”
‘We’ve made mistakes in the past’
Current AMS VP External Kalith Nanayakkara began his term in May 2020. He said he has had communication with public officials while holding his position, but his name doesn’t appear on any provincial or federal registry documents.
It’s unclear why Hester appears to have mistaken provincial politicians as part of Parliament, and Nanayakkara said that this was indeed a mistake.
“I can’t speak on behalf of the previous external affairs office and why these lobbying trips were not reported, but it should have been,” he said.
“Clearly, we’ve made mistakes in the past. And it’s my job to ensure that moving forward, these errors aren’t made.”
With COVID-19 creating challenges for students, Nanayakkara said earlier in August that he had been advocating for students around the indefinitely suspended Canada Student Service Grant.
“I have been talking to a lot of politicians and officeholders, building the relationships and representing the AMS,” said Nanayakkara. “It’s been a lot of preliminary work because, as you probably know, when it comes to work like this, it requires a lot of consistent meetings and a lot of ongoing conversations. But I’ve had initial conversations with a lot of office holders.”
The provincial Lobbyists Transparency Act defines lobbying as when an individual is paid to communicate with or arrange meetings to lobby public office holders with the goal of influencing lawmaking. The federal Lobbying Act has a similar definition for federal public office holders.
At the same time, Nanayakkara said these didn’t count as lobbying activities and that the AMS had ample time to register with the appropriate registries.
“We haven’t engaged in any physical lobbying activities yet, but we will be soon. We’re still figuring out how exactly we’re going to do that. But we also have a six-month period to actually register with that.”
Provincial and federal lobbying legislation require lobbyists to register within ten days after lobbying has begun.
Both the ORL and OCL said they had the ability to launch investigations into situations of suspected non-compliance, but would not comment on any specific cases.
Nanayakkara said the AMS hasn’t been in contact with the provincial and federal registries about the alleged errors and did not confirm whether the AMS had contacted them in a subsequent email.
He blamed the AMS’s lack of current registration on a vacant policy advisor role which has been empty for “approximately one year.” That’s who typically files these reports, he said, and Hester helped with the recent federal registration as the society works to fill the position.
“If I’m being honest, with COVID-19 and everything else going on, this hasn’t been the top of our priority right now,” he said. “There are a lot more time-sensitive matters that I've had to deal with, which is why I’m just picking up on this now.”