Your strong, united voice in Ottawa
The votes are in, the ballot boxes are back in storage and the federal election season has come to an end. That means a new season of change is just beginning on Parliament Hill and around Ottawa.
No matter what the outcome, every national election refreshes faces and priorities in Ottawa. Newly minted MPs and political staff will take up their posts. Cabinet ministers will be appointed. And whether a new party forms government or not, officials in departments like Agriculture and Agri-food Canada will be given renewed direction on what to do over the next four years.
Whenever change like this is afoot, it’s a critical time for those representing the canola industry in Ottawa. In the coming weeks, government relations staff of the Canola Council (CCC) and the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) will be meeting with key government players, new and old, to make sure they understand what the industry needs to succeed.
Given the broad range of backgrounds on the Hill, informing politicians isn’t always an easy task. The Ottawa staff of CCC and CCGA have learned to never underestimate how little is known about the business by non-farmers, even those who are involved in ag policy decisions.
They’ve collected some great stories over the years, like the one about the rookie member of the House of Commons agriculture committee who asked, 20 minutes into a briefing, “So this canola… Is it like a plant?” And they will never forget the MP who voiced his wholehearted support for Canada’s “granola farmers.”
But the team has also had many heartening encounters with politicians committed to public service. Jan Dyer, who spent several years doing government relations for CCGA, notes the great respect most MPs have for the industry.
“MPs are very busy but I’ve always been impressed by how willing they are to spend their limited time with a wide variety of agriculture organizations,” says Dyer, who recently retired from CCGA for the second time.
The bottom line for Brian Innes, CCC’s vice president of public affairs, is that there’s always opportunity to inspire elected officials to care about the industry, even when they don’t know much about it or don’t have canola fields in their ridings.
“Government relations work is like an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is the high-profile work, like meetings with MPs. But 95 per cent of the effort happens beneath the surface and out of sight, and long before we get to the point of talking to politicians.”
“We have to remember that the average federal MP answers to more than 100,000 voters, so they’ve got lots of issues to think about,” Innes says. “Agriculture and canola may be really important to us, but without our efforts it may not even be on their radar.”
The government relations team uses an arsenal of tools to nudge canola’s priorities toward the top of the priority list. One of those tools is the latest independent study on canola’s economic impact. The study helps explain how the canola industry is creating jobs and opportunity – things that are important to all Canadians. The team also shares how the industry is a key partner in widely supported priorities like environmental stewardship.
The active, grassroots participation of growers is another important way to make canola priorities relevant in a busy environment with many competing interests. For example, as the Pest Management Regulatory Agency was reviewing neonicotinoid regulation, CCGA used a Twitter “click campaign” to help the industry send messages of concern to their MPs. Leading up to the election, another digital information campaign started a big conversation on Twitter about canola-based biofuel, helping to up the issue’s visibility at a critical time.
And when the team meets with government decision-makers, they often bring one more secret weapon – canola growers and industry representatives themselves.
“They bring a whole other level of understanding to the table,” Dyer says. “When farmers share real-life stories and explain how things work on their farms, it makes all the difference.”
She remembers the time a farmer came to a hearing on neonics with a small bag of canola seed. “He showed the committee how tiny the seeds are, and the difference between treated and untreated seed. It was really compelling.”
“Our strength is that we come to the table with the whole industry aligned on one solution that can be implemented. It’s much more powerful than having a half dozen agriculture groups asking for different things.”
Behind-the-scenes work
Underpinning all of these efforts is an incredible amount of behind-the-scenes work that continues every year, all year round. CCGA takes the lead on concerns like business risk management and transportation, while CCC leads on trade and market access issues. Issues related to biofuel, crop inputs and pesticide regulation are tackled jointly.
“Government relations work is like an iceberg,” Dyer says. “The tip of the iceberg is the high-profile work, like meetings with MPs. But 95 per cent of the effort happens beneath the surface and out of sight, and long before we get to the point of talking to politicians.”
As with any iceberg, the stuff happening below the surface is often what matters most.
“With so much competition for government’s limited time, we’ve got to come with solutions in order to have an impact,” says Innes. “Our strength is that we come to the table with the whole industry aligned on one solution that can be implemented. It’s much more powerful than having a half dozen agriculture groups asking for different things.”
The team is continually working with the value chain and government to find solutions to the industry’s challenges. They draw on a broad range of perspectives from CCC’s extensive network, including the agronomy specialists who provide specialized production knowledge. Their expertise informs government advocacy on highly technical issues in a way that is unparalleled in Canadian agriculture.
CCC and the CCGA also participate in larger partnerships like the Coalition of Rail Shippers and the AgGrowth Coalition. In this way, they help tackle the systemic issues that affect all parts of the agri-business sector.
By the time the government relations team shows up on Parliament Hill or the top floor of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, they come not just with complaints, but with achievable solutions. They can make a compelling case for how and why issues should be resolved and benefits that can be achieved for the canola industry and the country as a whole.
“That’s why we’ve been so successful – because we come prepared,” Dyer says. “We don’t need to be table-pounders because we come to the table with solutions. That’s what gives us influence. That’s what gets action.”