2020- 2022 Policy Process | Green Party of Canada
Where GPC membership collaborates to develop our policies
G21-P050 Give NGOs Equal Access to Policymakers
Submitter Name
Peter Royle
Ratification Vote Results: Adopted
Proposal
The GPC advocates ensuring equitable access to public servants by:
- Requiring officials who recommend policy to maintain a 1:1 ratio of contacts with NGOs (live, virtual or phone) and representatives of the for-profit sector,
- Ensuring presentations and briefing notes are submitted and publicly available, and
- Prohibiting closed-door meetings where a significant conflict of interest exists.
Objective
To ensure that non-profit organizations’ opportunities to present evidence in the public interest to government officials equal similar opportunities available to industry representatives and lobbyists.
Benefit
Evidence-based policymaking directs the nation’s resources responsibly by avoiding harm and maximizing public benefit rather than favouring vested interests. A study covering the period 2011-2018 showed fossil fuel industry lobbyists met with policy-makers 5 times as often as NGOs over a 7 year period. This imbalance must be redressed.
Supporting Comments from Submitter
Previous Canada Food Guides were developed with extensive lobbying from industry groups. The current Canada Food Guide was developed without participation of the food and beverage industry representatives in order to ensure that the development of dietary guidance took place free from conflict of interest. The result is that the new Guide is in line with international best evidence and has been widely praised by health groups.
“Health experts applaud Canada’s new food guide, though some question lack of portion sizes” 22 Jan. 2019.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4875553/canada-new-food-guide-health/
Revision process for Canada's food guide.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-food-guide/about/revision-process.html
Strategies used by the Canadian food and beverage Industry to influence food and nutrition policies.
https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-019-0900-8
A study examining federal lobbying by oil, gas and coal companies and their industry associations across a seven-year period from 2011 to 2018 found that the fossil fuel industry recorded 11,452 lobbying contacts with government officials. The sector lobbied the federal government at rates five times higher than environmental non-governmental organizations.
Canada has invested billions of dollars of COVID-19 stimulus money into the fossil fuel industry and very little into renewable energy.
Green Value(s)
Ecological Wisdom, Sustainability, Participatory Democracy, Social Justice, Respect for Diversity, Non-Violence.
Relation to Existing Policy
Add to current GPC policy.
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Here is G-06-P69 referred to by @Sarah Gabrielle Baron in her comment above:
G06-p69: Lobbyists
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Green Party of Canada will advocate:
a) the requirement for all people covered by ethics rules to report any violations of the rules, and require the ethics watchdog to protect anyone who reports a violation of ethics rules from retaliation.
b) the amendment of the Access to Information legislation to strengthen the right to disclosure of information and to strengthen enforcement of the law.
c) the requirement of Ministers and senior public officials to disclose their contacts with all paid lobbyists.
d) the inclusion of measures and provisions to prevent people from exploiting any loopholes as part of lobbying and ethics rules.
e) that the Registrar for Lobbyists be appointed at arms length from government, based on merit, and that s/he, as enforcer of the Lobbyists Code of Conduct, report directly to Parliament.
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