Office of the Lobbyist Registrar

Welcome to the home page of the Office of the Lobbyist Registrar for the City of Toronto.

We promote and enhance the transparency and integrity of City government decision making through public disclosure of lobbying activities and regulation of lobbyists' conduct.

Our main instrument for doing this is the Lobbyist Registry, which is an online, searchable tool that documents all lobbying activities in the City of Toronto.

We serve three groups of people:

• Lobbyists, who must comply with the Lobbying By-law and may require our help registering. See What do lobbyists need to know?
• Public office holders, who may wish information about the Lobbying By-law or our help when searching the Registry. See What do public office holders need to know?
• Members of the public, who may have questions about lobbying and need our help when searching the Registry. See How do we serve the general public?

To learn more about who we are and what we do, please see About us. For an introduction to lobbying and answers to questions such as "Who is a lobbyist?" and "Who has to register?", please start with The basics.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

TO:  ALL REGISTERED LOBBYISTS
RE:  VISITS TO COUNCIL MEMBER OFFICES at CITY HALL

Lobbyists are reminded that they must abide by the Councillor Visitor Sign-in Procedure approved by Toronto City Council on September 30 and October 1, 2009 and reconfirmed by City Council on April 12 and 13, 2011. After signing in to visit one councillor, you must return to Council Reception and be signed out by the councillor or the councillor's staff. If you wish to visit a second councillor, you must be signed in by the second councillor's staff at Council Reception and be escorted to the second councillor's office. This process must be repeated if you wish to visit multiple councillors consecutively. Lobbyists must not drop by other councillor offices after visiting one councillor without returning to Council Reception and be signed in again.

Lobbyists are also reminded that they are required to report their visits to councillors within 3 business days to the Lobbyist Registry.  Failure to do so is a provincial offence.

Dated July 12, 2012
Linda L. Gehrke
Lobbyist Registrar

What's new

Expense Reports

Both the February and March City Purchasing Card (PCard) Expense Reports are now available at Expense Reports.

Reports

The following reports are now available at Important Documents

• Report to Executive Committee on Amending the Lobbying By-law - Time and Place of Lobbying
• Annual Report of the Lobbyist Registrar for the Year 2012

Protocols, policies and procedures

Please see Compliance Inquiry Procedures revised on March 27, 2013.

Interpretation Bulletin

Please see:

• new Interpretation Bulletin, Grass-roots Campaigns released on March 7, 2013.
• Interpretation Bulletin, Registration of Clients of Consultant Lobbyists revised on March 7, 2013.

The educational material contained on this website is based on the provisions of Municipal Code Chapter 140, Lobbying and is provided for guidance purposes only; it is not intended to be, and cannot be relied on as legal or other advice. The application and impact of laws can vary widely based on the specific facts involved. It is the responsibility of consultant lobbyists and senior officers of organizations to determine if they or their employees are lobbying, and to register accordingly.

Any use of or reliance on this website, the contents of this website or the information provided through this website shall be at your sole risk. The City of Toronto provides the website on an "as is", "as available", basis. Further, the City of Toronto does not represent and warrant that the website will be available or meet your requirements, that access will be uninterrupted, that there will be no delays, failures or errors or omissions or loss of transmitted information, that no viruses or other contaminating or destructive properties will be transmitted or that no damage will occur to your computer system due to use of the website. The City of Toronto does not assume and is not responsible for any liability whatsoever for any website that may be linked to and from this website, the linking of any of these linked websites, the operation or content (including the right to display such information) of any of the linked websites, nor for any of the information, interpretation, comments or opinions expressed in any of the linked websites.