Belleville councillor Paul Carr. (Photo: John Spitters / Quinte News)
A Belleville councillor is concerned about private sector business people bending the ear of local politicians too much.
Councillor Paul Carr will ask for council’s support at its next meeting to investigate setting up what’s known as a “Lobbyist Registry”.
Carr pointed to Mayor Christopher’s casual remark during a recent strategy session where the mayor said he knew of a developer interested in building on the city’s waterfront. Councillor Carr says those kinds of discussions and who’s having them should be known to the public, and a Lobbyist Registry would serve that purpose.
When asked if such a registry wasn’t simply setting up more bureacracy and cost to the taxpayer, the councillor said it was one thing for a taxpayer to talk to a council member about a pothole, but quite another when business people with deep pockets try to sell project ideas to the city.
