Lobbying is a legitimate activity in a free and democratic society.  The Act defines “lobby” to mean in relation to a consultant lobbyist or an in-house lobbyist, to communicate with a public official in an attempt to influence:

• the development of a legislative proposal by the government of Manitoba or by a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA);

• the introduction of a bill or resolution in the Legislative Assembly or the amendment, passage or defeat of any bill or resolution that is before the Legislative Assembly;

• the making or amendment of a regulation as defined in The Regulations Act;

• the development, amendment or termination of a program or policy of the Government of Manitoba or a government agency;

• the awarding of a grant, contribution or other financial benefit by or on behalf of the Crown; and

In relation only to a consultant lobbyist, “lobbying" also includes:

• arranging a meeting between a public official and any other individual; or

• communicating with a public official in an attempt to influence the awarding of any contract by or on behalf of the Crown.

The Lobbyists Registration Act is part of omnibus Bill 37, 2nd Session, 39th Legislature, The Lobbyists Registration Act and Amendments to the Elections Act, The Elections Finances Act, The Legislative Assembly Act and The Legislative Assembly Management Commission Act, which was passed on October 8, 2008.  The act prescribes the registration requirements.

The intention of The Lobbyists Registration Act is to recognize that:

• Free and open access to government is an important matter of public interest;

• Lobbying public officials is a legitimate activity when appropriately conducted;

• It is desirable that public officials and the public be able to know who is attempting to influence government; and

• A system for registering paid lobbyists should not impede access to government.

The Lobbyists Registration Act will come into force upon proclamation and the Regulations under the Act are expected to come into force when the Act is proclaimed.

The Act applies to individuals who are paid to lobby and to organizations with employees whose duties include lobbying on their behalf.  Unpaid lobbyists are not required to register/file a return.  Charitable and non profit organizations are not required to register their in-house lobbyists unless the organization serves employer, union or professional interests or the interests of for profit organizations.  Section 3(1)(e)

The Lobbyist Registry is an online registration system which allows individuals and organizations to register their lobbying by filing a return and updating the information in accordance with the requirements of The Lobbyists Registration Act.  As part of the Province’s commitment to accountable and transparent government, the registry allows public viewing and searching of all information in the returns for current and past lobbying.  The content of returns (information required) is specified by The Lobbyists Registration Act as are the filing deadlines. Sections 6(1) through 6(6)

A "public official" is defined in Section 1(1) of The Lobbyists Registration Act as:

• a member of the Legislative Assembly and any person on a member’s staff;

• an employee of  the government of Manitoba;

• an officer, director or employee of a government agency;

• a person who is appointed to an office or body by or with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council or a minister of the government, but does not include:

• a judge or justice of the peace; or

• a person appointed on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly or a committee of the Legislative Assembly.

In common usage, “person” means a human being, but in statutes, “person” can also include firms, organizations, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees and receivers.

You are an in-house lobbyist if you are an employee, officer or director of an organization who receives a payment for performance of your functions, or a sole proprietor, or a partner in a partnership:

• who lobbies on behalf of the organization for 100 hours or more per year; or

• who lobbies on behalf of the organization along with other employees, and your combined lobbying time is 100 hours or more per year.

Section 3(1) of The Lobbyists Registration Act specifies the following persons are not considered to be consultant lobbyists or in-house lobbyists when acting in their official capacity:

• Members of the House of Commons or Senate of Canada or persons on their staff;

• Members of the Legislative Assembly of another province or territory or persons on their staff;

• Employees in the civil service of the province;

• Employees of the Government of Canada or of the government of another province or of a territory;

• Officers, directors or employees of a charitable or not-for-profit organization, unless the organization is constituted to serve management, union or professional interests or has a majority of members that are for-profit organizations or representatives of for-profit organizations;

• Members of a municipal council, school board or other local government body or persons on their staff, or officers or employees of a municipality, school board or other local government body;

• Officers or employees of bodies representing municipal councils, school boards or other local government bodies;

• Officers, directors or employees of an organization that represents governmental interests of a group of aboriginal people including:

• the council of a band as defined in the Indian Act (Canada), and

• an organization representing one or more bands;

• Diplomatic agents, consular officers or official representatives in Canada of a foreign government;

• 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;

• A person acting as a volunteer who does not receive a payment or other benefit; and

• Any other individuals or categories of individuals prescribed in the regulations.

Not all communication with a public office holder is considered lobbying under the Act.  For example, when the government issues written requests for advice or comment on an issue, the oral or written responses by an individual made to a public official in direct response to that request are not considered to be lobbying that must be registered or reported.

Communication with a public office holder by an unpaid member of a voluntary organization which does not serve employer, union or professional interests or the interests of for profit organizations about an issue of concern to that organization is not considered lobbying that must be registered or reported.

Other examples of communication with a public office holder that does not require registration or reporting under The Lobbyists Registration Act include oral or written submissions:

• Made in proceedings that are a matter of public record to a committee of the Legislative Assembly or to a body or person having jurisdiction or powers conferred under an Act;

• Made to a public official by an individual on behalf of a person or organization concerning the enforcement, interpretation or application of an Act or regulations, or the implementation or administration of a policy, program, directive or guideline by the public official with respect to the person or organization;

• Made to a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), by or on behalf of a constituent of the Member respecting a personal matter of the constituent;

• Made to a public official by a union relating to the administration or negotiation of a collective agreement with the government or a government agency; or relating to the representation of a member or former member of a bargaining unit who was or is employed by the government or a government agency.  Section 3(2)

Section 1(1) of the act defines “organization” to mean any of the following, whether incorporated, unincorporated, a partnership or a sole proprietorship:

• a business, trade, industry, professional or voluntary organization;

• a union or labour organization;

• a chamber of commerce or board of trade;

• an association, a charitable or non-profit organization,  a society, a coalition or an interest group;

• a government other than the government of Manitoba; or

• any entity (other than a person) on whose behalf a consultant lobbyist undertakes to lobby.  Section 1(1)

If you are a Consultant lobbyist under the Act, you must file a return for each undertaking, recording your lobbying activity in the online registry. Consultant lobbyists must file their own return. Section 4(1)

In the case of an organization that has an in-house lobbyist, the return must be filed by the most senior officer of the organization who receives payment for performing their function; or if there is no senior officer who receives payment, the most senior in-house lobbyist.  Section 5(1)

The senior officer is the most senior person in the organization who is compensated for performing his or her duties.  Section 1(1)

A client is a person or organization on whose behalf a consultant lobbyist undertakes to lobby.  Section 1(1)

An undertaking is an agreement or contract, written or verbal, between a client and a consultant lobbyist (not an employee of an organization), within the context of which the lobbyist will seek to communicate with public office holders on behalf of the client.  An undertaking is defined by the contract between a lobbyist and client, not by the government decisions the lobbyist is trying to influence. The scope of an undertaking may be very broad and require lobbying on several decisions (for example, to increase funding for highway maintenance), or may focus on a single decision (for example, to have a new highway interchange located in a specific place). Section 1(1)

The Registrar of Lobbyists is appointed by The Lieutenant Governor in Council. Section 11(1)  The person appointed as Registrar must be one of the independent officers of the Assembly or the commissioner under The Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Conflict of Interest Act or a person on the staff of one of them. Section 11(2)  The Registrar may delegate any of his or her powers or duties under this Act to a person employed in the Registrar’s office.  Section 16

The Registrar:

• shall establish and maintain a registry of lobbyists in which a record of all returns and other documents filed with the registrar under this Act are kept;  Section 12(1)

• may verify the information contained in any return or other document filed under this Act;  Section 13

• 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;  Section 14(1)

• may remove a return from the registry if the person who filed it does not comply with their duty to provide clarifying information or fails to give the registrar any requested information relating to the return within the period specified by the Act.  Section 15(1)

• ensures public accessibility to the lobbyists registry;  Section 12(3) and

• may issue interpretation bulletins and advisory opinions with respect to the enforcement, interpretation, or application of the Act, or the regulations but such are not binding on the Registrar;  Section 17.

Government Agency, as defined in The Financial Administration Act,  means any board, commission, association, agency, or similar body, whether incorporated or unincorporated, all the members of which, or all the members of the board of management, board of directors or governing board of which, are appointed by an Act of the Legislature or by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Regulations under the Act set “Significant Part of Duties’ to mean at least 100 hours annually.

There is no fee to file a return, and there is no fee to update a return.

• For consultant lobbyists:  If you have entered into an undertaking to lobby on behalf of a client, you are a consultant lobbyist and must register/file a return within 10 days of entering into that undertaking.  Section 1(1) and Section 4(1).

• For organizations with one or more in-house lobbyists:  Section 1(2) of the Act says that an individual is an in-house lobbyist only if the individual’s duty to lobby constitutes a significant part of his or her activities as an employee, or partner, or sole proprietor of the organization. 

The senior officer of the organization must register/file a return and list all of the employees involved in lobbying within two months after the date which the organization has an in-house lobbyist (or lobbyists), and within two months after the end of each six month period after filing the previous return. Sections 5(1)(a) and (b)

The Act puts the responsibility to file on each consultant lobbyist and on Senior officers of organizations with in-house lobbyists.

We strongly recommend you enter text directly into each field in your return. Do not enter the < and > symbols: use the phrases “less than” or “greater than” instead. Copying text from another document and pasting it into your return may produce unexpected results. Everything may appear as expected when you copy it into a field: exiting the system and reopening the return will show what the system has saved.

For both consultant lobbyists and organizations with in-house lobbyists, the person who files the return must update it (within 30 days after the change occurs) if there are any changes to the information in the return.  If the person who filed the return becomes aware of information which should have been included in the return, but which they did not know at the time of filing, they must update the return within 30 days of learning the new information.  If the registrar requests information to clarify any information supplied by the person who filed the return, this return must be updated to provide that clarifying information within 30 days after the request is made.

Section 6(2)(a),(b) and (c)

If you receive remuneration to arrange for meetings between a client and a public official, you must register the undertaking even if you do not participate in the meeting.  Section 1(1)

In such a case, much of the information disclosed may end up being common to these consultants.  However, each consultant lobbyist is responsible for compliance with the Act, and must disclose and certify the information on his or her individual return.  Section 4(1)

The Act does not require identifying information about a person to be disclosed if the Registrar is satisfied that disclosure could reasonably be expected to threaten the person’s safety.  Section 3(3)  The case would need to be compelling in order to receive consideration.

Yes. Consultant lobbyists have 30 days from the date the undertaking is completed or terminated to revise the completion date.  Section 6(3)

Yes. The senior officer has 30 days after you cease to be an in-house lobbyist to change your status and record the date you stopped lobbying. Section 6(4)

Yes. Filers have 30 days from the date the change occurred or the date they became aware of the change to update their return to reflect the new information.  Section 6(2)(a)

When there is a cabinet shuffle, senior officers filing on behalf of organizations with in-house lobbyists and consultant lobbyists must make sure that their returns reflect the correct minister’s name.

If there is a new minister following a cabinet shuffle and you have already lobbied the minister prior to the cabinet shuffle and do not plan to lobby the new minister, you do not need to update your return.  If however, you lobbied the minister prior to the cabinet shuffle and also intend to lobby the new minister following the cabinet shuffle, then you must update the “target contact” section of your return to show the new minister’s name, the subject matter and intended outcome details.  The fact that you lobbied the previous minister will remain on your return.

The Lobbyists Registration Act requires you to update your return within 30 days of any changes to the information in the return or within 30 days of the date you became aware of any changes to the information.

Each return must include (as appropriate):

• Your name and address and whether you are a consultant lobbyist or the designated filer for an organization;  Section 6(1)1

• A declaration that no lobbyist named in the return is in violation of the contracting prohibition. Sections 10(1) and 10(2) specify that a person must not lobby while holding a contract for providing paid advice on the same subject; and must not enter into a contract for providing paid advice if he or she acts as a consultant lobbyist or in-house lobbyist on the same subject matter; and

• Certification that the information contained in the return is true to the best of the filer’s knowledge and belief. Section 7

Note, for declaration of non-violation of prohibition, “contract for providing paid advice” means an agreement or arrangement under which a person directly or indirectly receives or is to receive a payment for providing advice to the government or a government agency. Section 10(3)

• For returns filed by consultant lobbyists, relevant period means the period beginning on the date of entering into the undertaking or which a return is filed and ending on the date the undertaking is completed or terminated;  Section 6(6)(a)

• For returns filed by the senior officer of an organization that has as in-house lobbyist, relevant period means the financial year of the organization in which the return is filed (or if the organization does not have a financial year, the calendar year in which the return is filed). Section 6(6)(b)

When you file a return on-line, an email acknowledging receipt of the return is automatically generated and sent to you immediately, but we may require up to ten business days to complete our review of your return.

In accordance with The Lobbyists Registration Act, we may request further information or clarification of information contained in the return 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 review process to accept your return.

• The registrar may refuse to accept a return or other document that does not comply with this Act or the regulations.  Section 14(1)  If the Registrar refuses to accept a document, the registrar must inform the person who filed it of the refusal and allow a reasonable extension of the time of the time set under this Act for filing the return or document, if it is not reasonable for the person to file another return of document within the set time.  Section 14(2)(a) and (b)

• If the person who filed the return does not comply with their duty to provide clarifying information or fails to give the registrar any requested information, relating to the return within the period specified by the Act, the Registrar may remove the return from the registry.  Section 15(1)

• The registrar must inform the person who filed the return of its removal and the reason, and the person is deemed to not have filed the return. S15(2)(a) and (b)

Yes. Filers have 30 days from the date the change occurred or the date they became aware of the change to update their return. Section 6(2)

An undertaking is the engagement of the consultant lobbyist to a contract to the client. The undertaking is defined by the contract between the consultant lobbyist and the client, not by the government activities that the lobbyist is trying to influence. An undertaking may be very broad and require lobbying on several activities, or it may be narrowly focused on only one activity. (For example, an undertaking could involve lobbying to have more government funding allocated to highway maintenance, or it could involve lobbying to have a new highway interchange located in a specific place.) New or amended agreements or contracts with significantly different subject matters signify new undertakings and require filing new separate returns.

No. The Lobbyists Registration Act requires you, as a consultant lobbyist, to register your lobbying. Section 4(1)

A consultant lobbyist must file a return in the prescribed form and containing the information required with the Registrar no later than 10 days after entering into the undertaking. Section 4(1).

Yes. You must register within 10 days of entering into an undertaking to lobby on behalf of a client, whether or not lobbying has actually taken place. Section 4(1)

For any particular undertaking, as a consultant lobbyist, you are required to file one return, even though you may communicate with one or more Public Official on one or more occasions or arrange one or more meetings between a Public Official and any other person.  Section 4(2)

If you make arrangements to communicate with an additional public official not yet listed on your return, within 30 days of making those arrangements, the additional public official’s name must be added to the return.  Section 6(2)

You are not required to register/file a return for your activities as an unpaid volunteer in the lobbying activities of an exempt organization as defined in Section 3(1)(e) 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 as the consultant lobbyist who filed the return, you must inform the Registrar within 30 days after the completion or termination of the undertaking. Section 6(3)

If you are lobbying at the time that the Act comes into force, you must file a return with the Registrar not later than 30 days after the Act comes into force. Section 4(3)

If an organization has one or more in-house lobbyist(s), the senior officer of the organization must file the return. The senior officer is the most senior officer of the organization who is compensated for performing his or her duties. Section 5(1)

A person is an in-house lobbyist of an organization if his or her lobbying activity, alone or in combination with the lobbying activity of other employees would amount to a “significant part of his or her duties”, if performed by one employee.  This is defined in the Regulations under the Act to be 100 hours or more per year and includes preparation time directly related to and necessary for the lobbying activity.

Time spent conducting background research in order to decide if the organization should or should not lobby need not be counted.  Once the decision to lobby has been made, preparation time should be tracked and counted.

No. The senior officer for the organization must list in the return the names of those employees who perform lobbying activities. The return should not list the names of employees who do not lobby.

The senior officer of an organization that has an in-house lobbyist must:

file a return with the Registrar within two months after the date on which an individual first becomes an in-house lobbyist; Section 5(1)(a) and

file a return within two months after the end of each six-month period after filing the previous return. Section 5(1)(b)

Yes. The senior officer of an organization that has one or more in-house lobbyists whose combined lobbying activity meets or exceeds the significant time threshold (100 hours or more per year) is required to file a return within two months after the expiration of each 6-month period following the date of filing the previous return. Section 5(1)(b)

Yes. The senior officer has 30 days after you cease to be an in-house lobbyist to change your status and record the date you stopped lobbying. Section 6(4)

If an in-house lobbyist (or lobbyists) is (are) lobbying at the time that the Act comes into force, and the lobbying meets the significant time threshold as defined in the Regulations, the senior officer of the organization must file a return with the Registrar not later than two months after the Act comes into force.  Section 5(2)

When it first came into force on April 30, 2012, the Act included two specific prohibitions:

Section 10(1) of the Act prohibits a person from acting as a lobbyist on a subject matter if they hold a contract for providing advice on the same subject matter.

Section 10(2) prohibits a person who is acting as a lobbyist on a subject matter from entering into a contract to provide advice on the same subject matter.

The day after the 2023 Manitoba General Election, another prohibition was added:

Section 10.1 prohibits a lobbyist, in the course of lobbying activity, from giving or promising any gift or other benefit to the public official being lobbied or expected to be lobbied.  This does not apply to a gift or other benefit that is given as an incident of protocol or social obligations that normally accompany the duties or responsibilities of the public official.  The exception generally refers to items that have a small or token value, such as coffee and snacks served during a meeting.  When in doubt, lobbyists may seek advice from the Office of the Lobbyists Registry.

• A person who contravenes the Act is guilty of an offence. Section 18(1)

• A person who lobbies without a return being filed as required by this Act is guilty of an offence.  Sections 4(1) and 5(1)

• A person who provides false or misleading information in a return filed or other document submitted to the Registrar under this Act is guilty of an offence. Section 18(2)

• A person is not guilty of an offence if the person did not know at the time that the information was provided that it was false or misleading and, with the exercise of reasonable diligence, could not have known that it was false or misleading. Section 18(3)

A person who commits an offence under Sections 18(1) or 18(2) of the Act is liable to a fine of not more than $25,000. Section 18(4)

A prosecution under this Act may be commenced not later than two years after the commission of the alleged offence. Section 18(5)