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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Conversation with Shel Goldstein
While very in favour of the objectives of this proposal, I do wish that it had been amended to repair "to maintain a 1:1 ratio of contacts with NGOs (live, virtual or phone) and representatives of the for-profit sector", which would force a policy maker to seek out industry lobbyists IF citizens' groups and NGOs advocated so effectively as to outnumber industry inputs. I don't think a strict 1:1 ratio is necessary.
Interesting observation @Shel Goldstein. It would be fun if it ever reached the point that ENGO contacts outnumbered the well-funded commercial and self-interested lobbyists. By that time we would certainly want to reconsider that 1:1 ratio objective.
There have been some helpful comments here. The observation about astro-turfing; the existence of a similar policy already, and perhaps some other way of expressing the need for transparency in the lobbying industry overall should be considered. If there were interest in doing some work-shopping of this policy so that it can be improved, we certainly can get together before the next General Meeting, and prepare an amended policy proposal to present at that meeting.
This would be a good place to start that conversation. The Rocket Chat is also available, and we can certainly work out ways to work together on it.
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