Time to tighten B.C. laws on anonymous lobbying: attorney general [Video]

This story is a collaboration between the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) and CBC Vancouver.

British Columbia’s attorney general says she wants to amend provincial laws to unmask special interest groups behind anonymous lobbying campaigns. 

Niki Sharma said she hopes to introduce legislation that would require the groups behind so-called “grassroots” campaigns to declare who they are and who they are working for. 

Sharma made the comment while reacting to an IJF/CBC Vancouver investigation about an anonymous lobbying campaign that sought to influence local politicians’ views on a North Vancouver chlorine plant.

The campaign was quietly financed by a rival chemical company, which later apologized for the covert nature of its advertisements. 

“The story was troubling when I heard about it,” Sharma said in an interview conducted before B.C.’s election campaign began.

“Our lobby transparency act is an important tool to make sure things are done in a transparent way and you don’t have this hidden lobbying … that is a conflict or problematic. And …