He said he wouldn’t — but he did. On March 1, John Reynolds — one of the most influential Conservatives within that party — registered as an unpaid lobbyist for three non-profit organizations — The Rick Hansen Foundation, Science World, and Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan’s initiative to fight drug addiction. After quitting politics and joining the law firm Lang Michener, Reynolds promised he would not lobby his “good friend” Stephen Harper and would only provide Lang Michener clients with “strategic advice.”
But sharp-eyed Vancouver Sun reporter Peter O’Neil spotted this in the lobbyist’s registration database and wrote it up.
In his piece, O’Neil quotes Reynolds:
“I'm a prominent person within the party, and I'm going to make recommendations to our guys, cabinet ministers and others, including MPs, that 'hey, these are good projects for my province and I'd like them to happen.' And I will put myself down as a lobbyist when I do that.”
And quotes Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch, who worries this is the thin end of the wedge:
“His definition of a good cause may not be another person's definition of a good cause. And he's still trading on his inside access and relationships, which means he's advocating a who-you-know system as opposed to a merit-based system.”
After long service as a Conservative MP, Reynolds was national campaign co-chair in 2006 and will likely do so again.
Tip of the toque to Jarrett Plonka, a Conservative, who’s ‘outraged’ by Reynolds failure to honour his promise.
According to Duff Conacher: “And he's still trading on his inside access and relationships, which means he's advocating a who-you-know system as opposed to a merit-based system.”
Ideally, things should function on a merit-based system, which means there would be no room for measures such as affirmative action of any kind. Mr. Dion's proposed 30% minimum candidates being women, for example.
In our own daily lives, whom do we seek out as the better mechanic, the better barber/hair stylist, the better heart surgeon? The people we know, or those recommended to us by people we know and trust.
Mr. Reynold is lobbying for non-profit orgs. If he were trying to sell widgets to PM Harper, that would be different. Simplistic, maybe, but nevertheless true.
Perhaps what should be disallowed is making promises one cannot keep … and that means many of us would be faced with some kind of penalty, no?