A creative environmental group struggled for years to get a fragile chunk of Northern Canada declared a new national park. They were trapped by inter-departmental rivalry, ensnared in federal-provincial battles a generation old and the hesitation of a new minister to step into such an inherited mess. Two years later all the stakeholders held a grand celebration with the ministers and First Nations leaders to mark the announcement of the new park.
A big hospital in an important Canadian city had struggled for years to get the funding to build a leading-edge new facility. The jealousy of competitors, tight budgets, and the absence of anyone on staff who knew how to bring the right donors, bureaucrats and politicians together meant the project languished. A year later, at a ground-breaking, stakeholders, competitors and a new government minister celebrated .
Two of Canada's most innovative charities wanted government approval and financial support for a new teenage education program. The federal government department would offer support only if the city and the province did. All agreed it was a great idea, no one was prepared to move first. At the first school launch a few months later, one small group stood at the back of the gym and smiled. They were the consultant lobbyists who had helped to assemble the jigsaw puzzle.
These are all cases taken from the files of government affairs specialists, altered to preserve the privacy of those involved. It was a similar group of government relations specialists who helped get the new park and the heart facility approved. The organizations could have hired permanent new employees to try to thread the many government needles required for approval. Those skills are not easy to find and would have cost a lot more - employees cannot be thanked and shown the door, consultants expect it.
Most of the men and women who work in this industry are like the authors, former politicians, political staff and party activists. They know how legislation is baked, how regulations are framed, and how to find common ground between often fiercely competitive departments and governments for their clients.
The mythology about lobbyists is that they get overpaid to set up meetings. They take place over expensive meals in smoky back rooms. Back in the day when you were allowed to smoke in back rooms, and politicians were allowed to accept expensive meals and favours, you might have been able to deliver success for your client that way. Today, as the Auditor-General and others ensure, every Tim Hortons muffin gets accounted for.
A cigar-chomping good old boy, offering nothing more than free Leafs tickets couldn't get a meeting with a junior assistant, let alone a decision-maker these days. Governing is tough and difficult. If your client's "ask" can help those who do it as a profession make better decisions, they'll meet with you; otherwise don't waste their time.
Are there still back-alley operators who rent their Rolodex to naive clients claiming to be able to "deliver a minister"? Of course, that's why we have some of the toughest rules, regulations and investigators in the world governing our system, and everyone who works within it.
So the next time you see the time honoured headline: "Lobbyist scandal rocks…" pause before reading. Think of that park, that hospital and that school health project. Think of the dedicated men and women in tough government jobs trying to make the best policy decisions. And then think of the experienced former policy makers, now consultants like us, working for every kind of organization and business large and small, trying to find the best public policy choice for those clients and for Canadians.
Rob Sampson and Chris Ward served as Ontario cabinet ministers under Mike Harris and David Peterson, respectively.