I know everybody wants a slice of this new 'ethical' politics thing, but:

Stephen Harper's assertion, that he is not in violation of the law by not registering as a lobbyist as head of the National Citizens Coalition, is likely true, it is then very disappoinging that he instead of broadening the terms of who is and isn't a lobbyist, he instead moved to ban elected officials who cease to serve from going into the non-partisan public policy sector (AKA lobbying, either publicly as in the NCC's case or privately as many corporations do) instead of broadening the definition of who is and isn't a lobbyist.

What Mr. Harper's proposed legislation will do is increase the financial loss that an MP suffers for leaving his or her job. The obvious result of this will be to strengthen party discipling and weaken the ability of MP's to represent their constituents. I'm sure that as an economist Mr. Harper had considered the policy implications of an increased disincentive to quitting or bringing about one's dismissal as a Member of Parliament, or Minister of the Crown.