You can already hear the grumblings over social media over the headline: “As senators become more independent, meetings with lobbyists hoping to take advantage tripled in 2016.” And immediately most people go “Ooh, lobbyists are bad, so this sounds like a terrible thing.” It’s not actually true, but it’s something we’re probably going to have to unpack a little better rather than cause some mass panic (once again) about how the newly “empowered” Senate is going to be the death knell for democracy in this country, or some other such nonsense.

For starters, not all lobbying is bad. With strict rules in this country around reporting and gifts, this isn’t like the free-for-all that we’ve seen in places like Washington, where lobbyists were meeting with Congressmen in the steam room of the Capitol Hill gym, or taking them on private plane rides and giving them holidays, or showing up on the floor of the House to watch them cast votes, all while funnelling money into their re-election campaigns. While I believe they tightened some of those rules down south, we simply don’t have that kind of lobbying culture here in Canada, so get that out of your minds first of all. Secondly, Senators in Canada don’t have re-election campaigns to finance, so the influence that lobbyists can try to gain with financial incentives of one variety or another are also non-existent here, so once again, don’t try to map an Americanism onto the process here. Third, lobbying is not all corporate influence. A lot of lobbyists represent charities or non-profits, so best to keep that in mind when you see the numbers grouped together.

Meanwhile, as for what they hope to achieve, well, remember that despite the newfound “independence” of the Senate, its powers are still fairly limited. Those hoping to use this newfound power to amend more bills or delay others will find that when it comes to any amendments, they would still need to be accepted by the House of Commons, and there has been very little acceptance so far of most amendments sent back by the Senate unless it’s a glaring error. And as for delays, if it’s a government bill there are tools like time allocation and closure to force them through the system. Just because Government Leader in the Senate – err, “government representative” – Senator Peter Harder hasn’t yet availed himself of those tools doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t. So really, your mileage with how effective lobbying efforts will be will certainly vary.

The uptick in lobbying is not unexpected now that the usual central channels for information flow have been disrupted. That’s to be expected, so this increase is hardly nefarious. I’m more concerned with cabinet ministers lobbying individual senators than I am actual lobbyists, to be honest, since those meetings are less open and transparent, and they have a lot more power to grant political favours. So really, let’s stay calm about this headline, but keep an eye on things nevertheless. Trudeau’s plans for a “more independent” Senate are certainly proving the rule around unintended consequences.

Good reads:

• There is more evidence that the uptick in irregular asylum arrivals is not because of the Trumpocalypse, but more sophisticated smuggling networks in play.
• The border guard union is looking for at least 300 more guards along the borders given the irregular asylum seeker arrivals.
• The timing of the interim Super Hornets and the permanent procurement process is likely to be used as “political insulation” during the next election.
• The government is signalling their intention to reject most of the amendments to Bill C-22 on creating the national security committee of parliamentarians.
• The government is looking to revive on a permanent basis the loan programme for skilled immigrants to help them get their credentials recognized.
• Cabinet is looking at ways to help MPs who have seen an increase in harassing messages since M-103 began debate.
• In case you needed a reminder, no, Bill C-16 on trans rights won’t impact your freedom of speech (no matter what certain U of T professors might imply).
• Former PMO staffer Mary Ng did indeed win the Markham-Thornhill Liberal nomination.
• Maclean’s has an excellent dissection of Kevin O’Leary’s promises and policy proposals.
• Here’s an immigration lawyer taking down Kellie Lietch’s arguments.

Odds and ends:

The current government hasn’t awarded the “John Diefenbaker Defender of Human Rights and Freedom Award” since taking office.