More than two dozen lobbyists who served as public officials under David Eby and John Rustad’s past governments have actively lobbied the two party leaders since 2020, an IJF analysis has found.
Ahead of the B.C. election, the IJF has identified 25 lobbyists who held public office over the last two decades and have since communicated with B.C. NDP Leader Eby or B.C. Conservative Leader Rustad, or both.
That includes a former health and environment minister who served alongside Rustad in the last B.C. Liberal cabinet, two former staff members from the office of John Horgan, Eby’s predecessor as NDP premier, and a handful of ministerial chiefs of staff and deputy ministers under the Liberals.
Bryan Evans, a politics professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, said it’s always a concern when someone makes the switch from government to lobbying.
“Lobbying is very much about who you know — the kind of social and political capital one carries based on networks that they build while working in government,” he told the IJF.
“The public, the media, the opposition, whatever it may be, should know who is actually talking to people in positions to make authoritative and consequential decisions.”
https://theijf.org/bc-lobbying-communications
