Wayne Easter is Canada's most lobbied MP

According to the a report this week in The Hill Times, Wayne Easter, the MP for the central P.E.I. riding of Malpeque, is Canada's most lobbied member of Parliament.

The federal lobbyist registry records 182 visits to Easter from lobbyists in 2018. Easter credits his popularity with his role as chair of the finance committee.

"When you're dealing with finance policy you're dealing with the full gamut of pretty near everything [government] does," said Easter.

"It's natural that the chair of the finance committee would get lobbied pretty heavily."

Those 182 visits are just the start of consultations Easter is involved in, he said. The finance committee received 549 submissions during pre-budget consultations and heard from 300 witnesses during a 10-city tour.

Finding a balance

Easter doesn't have to meet with all those lobbyists, but as a former president of the National Farmers Union he was once a lobbyist himself, and he said he appreciates what they bring to the table.

"They do good research and you learn something all the time," he said.

"The more information you're armed with the better job you can do in dealing with legislation and raising questions with your own government."

In addition to his work on the finance committee, Easter has a busy constituency office on P.E.I., dealing with issues such as late employment insurance cheques.

"That's the real world. That's not the bubble that is Ottawa," he said.

"You've got to balance them both."

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