Working in the Shadows for Transparency: Russ Hiebert, LabourWatch, Nanos Research, and the Making of Bill C-377

When Conservative mp Russ Hiebert stood in the House of Commons in late 2011 to speak in support of his private member’s bill, C-377, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, he declared that 83 per cent of Canadians were in favour of unions publically disclosing detailed financial information. Other Conservative mps, provincial conservative governments, and anti-union organizations (e.g., Merit Canada) were fond of citing the 83 per cent result in ads, Twitter feeds, and other pro-C-377 statements.¹

The development of C-377 highlights what political economist Andrew Jackson describes as the “new attack” on the Canadian labour movement and the role of public opinion polls in steering, and subsequently supporting, the development of legislation.² Drawing from documents obtained through access to information requests, key informant interviews, Hansard records, and personal correspondence, our paper focuses on the role of a 2011 LabourWatch-Nanos Research public opinion poll in promoting C-377. This analysis highlights the “paradox of transparency” whereby anti-union lobby groups demand transparency for unions but shun the practice of public openness themselves.³ We begin by situating C-377 in the political economy of anti-unionism and as part of a string of legislative reforms that work to jeopardize the strength of unions and collective bargaining in Canada. The paper proceeds to describe the substantive elements of Bill C-377 and its legislative process. Next, we consider the historical development of US union financial disclosure legislation and, in particular, the role of anti-union lobbyists in this process. We then describe the lobbying efforts for C-377 and, in particular, the LabourWatch-Nanos poll that became central to public discourse about C-377 and a central means through which the legislation was, and continues to be, legitimized. This aspect of the saga sheds light on the limits of self-regulation in the polling and marketing industry and its abuse by anti-union groups. We conclude that the architects of C-377 operated “in the shadows” with limited transparency and accountability for their actions.⁴

The Political Economy of C-377

Conservative mp Russ Hiebert introduced C-377 on 5 December 2011.⁵ The legislation would require trade unions to disclose a wide range of detailed financial and other information to the Canada Revenue Agency (cra), which in turn would be made publically available and searchable on the cra’s website. The main features of the bill require unions to provide balance sheets, income statements, and statements of all transactions over $5,000 identifying the payer and payee and description of each such transaction. Separate statements for expenses related to each of the following activities are also mandated: labour relations, political lobbying, gifts, grants, administration, overhead, organizing, bargaining, conference, convention, education, training, and legal. The bill would also compel unions to disclose the salaries of union officers, directors, employees, and contractors as well the percentage of time individuals in these roles dedicate to political and lobbying activities. Unions, policy makers, privacy advocates, and business groups all recognized the implications of this legislation from the start.

Disclosure of union financial information in Canada is currently regulated by provincial and federal labour relations legislation along with union constitutions and bylaws. Section 110 of the Canada Labour Code, for instance, obliges trade unions and employers’ organizations to provide members with a copy of financial statements upon request, free of charge. Similar provisions exist in a majority of labour relations laws across the country. And although the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of dues check-off and union political expenditures in its pivotal Lavigne v. Ontario Public Service Employees Union (opseu) decision of 1991, how labour organizations spend resources has remained a point of contention for conservative groups in Canada.⁶ We argue that C-377 is a part of this saga to undermine the political influence of unions by targeting how unions deploy resources.

The call for a Canadian policy for public disclosure of...