--- title: "End the Influence of Billionaires and Lobbyists at City Hall: the COPE plan | Vancouver 2026 | voche.me" canonical_url: "https://voche.me/parties/cope/2026-platform/the-peoples-audit/end-the-influence-of-billionaires-and-lobbyists-at-city-hall" last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:00:27.361Z" meta: description: "COPE would bring in a municipal lobbying registry, set cooling-off periods between city jobs and work for industries that lobby the city, and give the Inte..." "og:description": "COPE would bring in a municipal lobbying registry, set cooling-off periods between city jobs and work for industries that lobby the city, and give the Inte..." "og:title": "End the Influence of Billionaires and Lobbyists at City Hall: the COPE plan | Vancouver 2026" "twitter:description": "COPE would bring in a municipal lobbying registry, set cooling-off periods between city jobs and work for industries that lobby the city, and give the Inte..." "twitter:title": "End the Influence of Billionaires and Lobbyists at City Hall: the COPE plan | Vancouver 2026" --- ** COPE · Vancouver 2026 # COPE on lobbying: a lobbyist registry, cooling-off periods and campaign finance reform COPE would bring in a municipal lobbying registry, set cooling-off periods between city jobs and work for industries that lobby the city, and give the Integrity Commissioner more power. It would also push for campaign finance reform, which is set by provincial law. All 4 commitments [Read page 11 of the PDF ](https://www.votecope.ca/s/Fight-For-Vancouver-COPE-2026-Platform-t7yf.pdf#page=11) [**12**Candidates](https://voche.me/parties/cope/candidates) [**9/10**Issues with published policy](https://voche.me/parties/cope/platform) [**7**Sources on file](https://voche.me/parties/cope/money) **9**Questions answered THE PEOPLE'S AUDIT · PAGE 11 ## End the Influence of Billionaires and Lobbyists at City Hall: what the Fight for Vancouver says This chapter of COPE's platform deals with money and influence at City Hall. COPE would give the Integrity Commissioner more power to hold politicians to account and would update the city's code of conduct to give priority to breaches of public trust. The platform says the commissioner found that Sim and ABC councillors broke the code by agreeing on wording and votes in private group chats before public meetings. These are the party's statements about the findings. The party would bring in a municipal lobbying registry so the public can see when and how the wealthiest people try to influence city decisions. It would also set mandatory cooling-off periods between city appointments and jobs in private industries that lobby the city. COPE says the city can take some of these steps alone and would seek more authority for the rest. Campaign finance is the other half of the chapter. COPE says the lack of tax rebates for donations in municipal elections favours the rich, that third-party advertisers are poorly regulated, and that big donor networks are easy to coordinate. Contribution rules for BC local elections are set by the provincial Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, so this part needs the Province. 4 COMMITMENTS ## What the party says it would do 1. ### Empower the Integrity Commissioner COPE would give the Integrity Commissioner power to hold politicians accountable and update the city code of conduct to give priority to breaches of public trust. The platform says the commissioner found Sim and ABC councillors broke the code by coordinating wording and votes in private group chats, and that ABC voted down accountability after a separate investigation about Sim's conduct toward Councillor Orr.
Who has the power
City Council The Integrity Commissioner works under the city's Code of Conduct By-law, which Council can change.
Source
Fight for Vancouver, page 11
2. ### Campaign finance reform The party would fight for campaign finance reform to close the loopholes it says let the wealthiest people buy politicians and elections. It names the lack of tax rebates for municipal donations, poorly regulated third-party advertisers, and donor networks that coordinate campaigns without oversight.
Who has the power
Province Contribution rules for BC local elections are set by the provincial Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, so the city can only press for change.
Source
Fight for Vancouver, page 11
3. ### Ban the revolving door between industry and government COPE would set mandatory cooling-off periods between appointments in city government and work in private industries that lobby the city.
Who has the power
City Council Council can set conditions for the city's own appointments and staff.
Source
Fight for Vancouver, page 11
4. ### A municipal lobbying registry The party would bring in a municipal lobbying registry so the public knows how and when the wealthiest people influence city decisions. It says the city can take steps on its own, and it would fight to strengthen city authority so this influence cannot hide from public oversight.
Who has the power
City, with others The platform says the city can start a registry alone. The extra authority it seeks would have to come from the Province, which writes the Vancouver Charter.
Source
Fight for Vancouver, page 11
WHO WOULD HAVE TO ACT ## Where the power sits for this chapter City Council2 City, with others1 Province1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ## Questions about end the influence of billionaires and lobbyists at city hall
Does COPE support a lobbyist registry for Vancouver? Yes. COPE would bring in a municipal lobbying registry so the public knows how and when the wealthiest people influence city decisions. The party says the city can take steps on its own and would seek more authority from senior governments (platform, page 11).
What is COPE's plan for the revolving door at City Hall? COPE would set mandatory cooling-off periods between appointments in city government and work in private industries that lobby the city (platform, page 11).
What does COPE say about the Integrity Commissioner? COPE would give the Integrity Commissioner more power and update the code of conduct to put breaches of public trust first. The platform says the commissioner found that Sim and ABC councillors broke the code by coordinating votes in private group chats (platform, page 11).
Can Vancouver change its own campaign finance rules? COPE says it would fight for campaign finance reform on tax rebates, third-party advertisers and donor networks. Contribution rules for BC local elections are set by the provincial Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, so the city can only press for change (platform, page 11).
Why does COPE want campaign finance reform in Vancouver? COPE says the lack of tax rebates for municipal election donations favours the rich, that third-party advertisers are poorly regulated, and that big money groups can coordinate donor networks without oversight (platform, page 11).
ON THE BALLOT ## The COPE candidates behind this ### City Council [111**Sean Orr**Ballot 111 · Vancouver city councillor](https://voche.me/candidates/sean-orr) [121**Devyani Singh**Ballot 121](https://voche.me/candidates/devyani-singh) [124**Chloe Leslie**Ballot 124](https://voche.me/candidates/chloe-leslie) [155**Solomon Yi-Kieran**Ballot 155](https://voche.me/candidates/solomon-yi-kieran) ## Sources Every commitment on this page comes from the party's own material, marked SAYS SO ITSELF. It proves what the party says it would do. Who holds each power is our own addition, from the sources listed after it. 1. [Fight for Vancouver: COPE 2026 Platform (PDF) ](https://www.votecope.ca/s/Fight-For-Vancouver-COPE-2026-Platform-t7yf.pdf#page=11)SAYS SO ITSELFCOPE · pages 11 · checked September 30, 2026 2. [Integrity Commissioner and the Code of Conduct By-law ](https://vancouver.ca/your-government/integrity-commissioner.aspx)City of Vancouver · checked September 30, 2026 3. [Making a campaign contribution in BC local elections ](https://elections.bc.ca/local-elections/making-a-campaign-contribution/)Elections BC · checked September 30, 2026 ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.