KAREEM ALLAM, VANCOUVER LIBERALS PLEDGE LOBBYIST REGISTRY, CHEAPER PUBLIC RECORDS ACCESS, AND A STRONGER INTEGRITY WATCHDOG.
VANCOUVER, BC (July 28, 2026) – Mayoral candidate Kareem Allam and the Vancouver Liberals today announced a three-part plan to strengthen accountability and transparency at City Hall, focused on establishing a lobbyist registry, reducing the cost of accessing public information, and strengthening the Office of the Integrity Commissioner.
"Vancouver residents deserve a city government that operates with honesty, integrity, and transparency," said Allam. "Our goal is to ensure that every resident has confidence that decisions at City Hall are being made openly and in the public interest."
1) Introduce a Lobbyist Registry
The Vancouver Liberals will establish a new office tasked with creating a lobbyist registry. The City of Vancouver currently has no such registry, leaving it behind other jurisdictions including the City of Toronto, the City of Ottawa, the City of Edmonton, and the federal government. Lobbyist registries help identify which parties have engaged with Council and city staff on a given issue, supporting legal and ethical conduct among elected officials.
Council received a motion calling for a Vancouver lobbyist registry in October 2024. Nearly 21 months later, residents still have no way to see who is lobbying their city government.
"Every resident deserves the same access to their elected representatives, regardless of who they know or what resources they have," said Allam. "A public registry is a basic tool for making sure that's true."
2) Cut Freedom of Information Request Fees
Vancouverites deserve easy access to city information relevant to themselves or their interests, obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. On December 9, 2025, Vancouver City Council approved a $10 non-refundable fee for all non-personal FOI requests, in addition to existing variable costs based on the size and complexity of a request.
The Vancouver Liberals will eliminate this flat fee and cut all other FOI request costs in half.
Small fees have a measurable effect on information access. British Columbia introduced a $10 application fee for provincial FOI requests in November 2021. According to an analysis by BC's Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, requests for general government records fell 37 percent in the six months following its introduction, compared to the same period the previous year. The longer-term trend has been steeper still: requests for general provincial records have since fallen to less than a third of their pre-fee level.
The Vancouver Liberals want to prevent a similar chilling effect in Vancouver.
3) Strengthen the Office of the Integrity Commissioner
Elected representatives must be held to high standards of honesty, transparency, and integrity. In July 2024, a Council motion to review the scope of the Integrity Commissioner's office was amended to pause the office's new and ongoing investigations while that review was underway. The proposal drew significant public criticism, stalled through a series of delayed meetings, and was ultimately abandoned in 2025.
Vancouver's first Integrity Commissioner has since departed. Rather than treating the office as an inconvenience to be managed, the Vancouver Liberals believe it should be reinforced.
"I will be calling for a new blue-ribbon task force to bring in some of the top experts in governance and transparency, to strengthen the rules around our Integrity Commissioner and hold our politicians to the standard you deserve," said Allam.
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