A Liberal motion to require lobbyists to declare when they meet with parliamentary secretaries, not just with cabinet ministers, passed by unanimous vote in the House of Commons early Wednesday evening.
Not a single MP voted against the measure, despite calls by the Tories to go even further and include all MPs and senators, and in particular the leaders of the opposition parties and their staff members.
The motion is in response to the revelation that former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer met with Brian Jean, the parliamentary secretary to Infrastructure Minister John Baird, who was overseeing a green infrastructure fund.
Jaffer and his business partner, Patrick Glemaud, denied allegations of improper lobbying on Parliament Hill during an appearance before a Commons committee two weeks ago. The two men said their meetings and electronic discussions with Jean and other government officials were merely fact-finding missions. Jaffer and his wife, Conservative MP Helena Guergis, have been asked to testify before the committee on June 9.
Before the vote, Treasury Board Secretary Stockwell Day said his party believes the reporting requirement should include more than just parliamentary secretaries. Under the Tory proposal, all MPs, and perhaps some of their key staff members, would be prohibited from lobbying government for five years after leaving office.
"Walking these hallways every day are previous members of Parliament who are now lobbying, there are former Liberal cabinet ministers who walk the hallways, go into the Liberal offices and do their lobbying," Day told CTV's Power Play.
"And we're simply saying, look, fine we'll agree that this necessity to report when you're lobbied, let's extend that to parliamentary secretaries, but it should actually (extend to) all MPs, because all MPs get lobbied around here. And it should extend to the office of the leader of the opposition. And the leader of the opposition came running out and said, ‘whoa, whoa, that's going too far."
Responding to similar charges from Day earlier Wednesday, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said the Conservatives are just trying to shift focus from the alleged lobbying of the government by Jaffer.
Ignatieff said he had nothing to hide and all MPs should be included but the Conservatives were trying to "change the channel" away from their troubles.
"What we've got to remember is that they're the ones accused of influence peddling, they're the people accused of lobbying, they're the people accused of breaking they're own rules," Ignatieff told reporters Wednesday.
"They're in a jam, so they want to jam us back."
Ignatieff said he doesn't have any objections to the Tory motion, but would like to see the full details first. He wondered whether a constituent who sought help from his or her MP over an immigration issue would be considered a lobbyist according to the Tory motion.
Despite offering earlier in the day to go so far as to show his own appointment book so it can be checked for meeting with lobbyists, Ignatieff later backed away from that stand.
"Mr. Ignatieff will have no problem opening up his agendas when ministers and the prime minister will," said Michael O'Shaughnessy, a spokesperson for Ignatieff.
Day would not say exactly what a Tory motion would look like, including whether it would extend reporting requirements to staffers of backbenchers. He would only say the government is keen to move forward with reforms "as soon as is reasonable. We'd like to enter into discussions with the opposition on it."
With files from The Canadian Press
