City of Pickering Lobbyist Registry*

*Doesn't exist, because City Council Voted Against the Creation of a Lobbying Registry

The Mission

In April of 2021 City Council for the City of Pickering voted 5-2 against the creation of a Lobbying Registry for the City of Pickering. You can read the news article here.

Our mission is to shame the City of Pickering into creating a Lobbying Registry so that meetings that benefit the public are not held in secret behind closed doors. Toronto, Ottawa, Vaughan, Hamilton and Collingwood all have Lobbying Registries.

Collingwood says it best on their website:

"Lobbying is a legitimate activity that benefits not only lobbyists, but public office holders and members of the public as well. The benefits of lobbying conversations are lost, however, when they take place exclusively behind closed doors. As such, the Lobbyist Registry was adopted to enhance accountability and transparency in local government by providing public access to the elements of the business conducted at the Town".

That's our mission.

THE ISSUE

It turns out that almost 90% of donations to City Councilors during the 2018 Municipal Election came from outside the City of Pickering.

About 80% of all donations came from individuals linked to property development corporations or businesses linked to property development in the City of Pickering.

Each of these corporations, particularly the high rollers, had or has business before City Council where City Councilors have voted on items impacting their businesses.

Neat, huh?

The money

Did you know that for the 2018 Pickering Municipal Election, Councilors raised $235,250.00 in donations, averaging $33,607.00 per Councilor?

Did you know that of that $235,250.00 that was raised, almost 90% of it was donated by people who do not live in Pickering? In fact, if you exclude Pickering, the top 5 Cities account for 72% of all political donations to Pickering City Council.

  1. Toronto - $103,500

  2. Pickering (Including Hamlets falling within Wards) - $28,100

  3. Markham - $21,750

  4. Woodbridge - $21,000

  5. Richmond Hill - $16,300

  6. Vaughan - $7200

People outside of Pickering are really interested in who gets elected to our City Council! But why?

Let's Take a Look at Who These People Are! The Answer Will (probably not) Shock You!