9 471.23 Fall 2013

1. BG 9 471.23 Fall 2013

2. Who do you want to meet? • Mayor of Morris •  Executive Director of Steinbach Chamber of Commerce •  someone from Manitoba Chamber of Commerce •  VP of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Manitoba •  Executive Director of Business Council of Manitoba • former MLAs •  CEO who has done government lobbying • senior provincial bureaucrats • lobbyists for • environmental issues • trucking •  farming

3. Mayor of Morris • coming this Tuesday (Nov 19) • the email I sent him reads (in part): • If you were able to stay for lunch after that, we'd love to have you come for lunch as well. • Topics: • What, in your ideal view, do you think the relationship between businesses and governments should be? How, in your experience, does the reality compare to that ideal? • What's it like moving from being a business-person to being an elected official? • What kinds of lobbying from business-people have you experienced? In your experience, when have their efforts worked well and when have they worked poorly? • As mayor and council, you lobby the provincial government quite often. Do business organizations work with you on this? How is that relationship? • There are a number of business organizations that have relations with governments--the local Chamber, the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, the Business Council of Manitoba, the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Association. What's your experience been like (if any) on working with them? • Anything else about the relationship between businesses and governments you'd like to talk about.

4. Who do you want to meet? • Mayor of Morris •  Executive Director of Steinbach Chamber of Commerce •  someone from Manitoba Chamber of Commerce •  VP of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Manitoba •  Executive Director of Business Council of Manitoba • former MLAs •  CEO who has done government lobbying • senior provincial bureaucrats • lobbyists for • environmental issues • trucking •  farming

5.  VP of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Manitoba •  CEO who has done government lobbying • We’re going there next Tuesday (Nov 26 • the email I sent them reads (in part): • Drive in to Ron’s office [110 Lowson Crescent] for 10:30, and be gone by 12:00. • Topics: • Examples of business advocacy and lobbying of government that you have participated in or seen that: • You thought worked • You thought didn’t work • Why, in your view, was it a success or not? • What makes a single-industry trade association more or less effective? • What makes a cross-sectoral business advocacy organization (like the Chamber, the Business Council, the CFIB, or the MEC) more or less effective? • Thoughts about the ways (if any) Manitoba businesses can benefit from the Canada/EU trade agreement

6. Who do you want to meet? • Mayor of Morris •  Executive Director of Steinbach Chamber of Commerce •  someone from Manitoba Chamber of Commerce •  VP of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Manitoba •  Executive Director of Business Council of Manitoba • former MLAs •  CEO who has done government lobbying • senior provincial bureaucrats • lobbyists for • environmental issues • trucking •  farming

8. Taylor • “The federal government of Canada has traditionally sought public input in the policy-making process after it has drafted its policy intentions.” • recent improvements especially with business

9. Taylor • “If business and government thinking converge rather than diverge, business could better meet society’s needs and less government would be necessary.” • Should they converge? Should business meet society’s needs? Would less government be necessary?

10. 1997 Business Priorities • national unity • reduce business taxes • reduce individual taxes • get deficit to zero • reduce regulations • pay down federal debt • help business export • private sector healthcare • deregulate telecommunications • spend on transport infrastructure • spend on healthcare

11. What corporate welfare? • loans • loan guarantees • bailouts • debt • equity • grants

12. What corporate welfare? • 40 federal agencies give money • 60% to housing • 10% encourages exports • 10% farming • 15% primarily resource upgrading • None of this counts tax breaks

13. What corporate welfare? • Best example: • Peter Pocklington • …he was totally opposed to all government support for business. In a regular Alberta newspaper column on March 6, 1999, he censured “government funded movements of the liberal-left.” On March 10, however, he accepted a $12 million loan from Alberta’s Treasury Branches for his meat-packing company, Gainers Inc., and a $55 million loan guarantee.

14. Why corporate welfare? • jobs, jobs, jobs • market failure • instrument of public policy • favoured son • regional development • key sectors • promote/retain Canadian ownership • save source of future corporate tax revenues • promote/retain competition w/i an industry

15. A louder voice? • government spending • fiscal/taxation policy • labour legislation • tariffs and trade policy • monetary policy • competition policy • foreign investment policy • development/location incentives • bailouts of financially troubled companies • government investment in or ownership of business • environmental legislation

16. Traditional input • Green paper • or red or blue • general discussion • White paper • proposed policy

17. Tripartism • “Tripartism is an admission that the process of decision making is more important in achieving desired economic or social outcomes today than is rigid adherence to outdated economic formulas or political ideologies.”

18. Tripartism • Tier I/Tier II • Auto Pact Renewal • Free Trade Agreement

19. Tripartism • Tier I/Tier II • 1976… • generally a failure • some benefits • increased contact • increased trust • reasons for misunderstanding • economic policy vs. listening

20. Tripartism • Auto Pact renewal • 1980s • success • clear ideas • strong negotiating position for govt • reason • had a clear goal • failure had a clear cost

21. Tripartism • Auto Pact lessons • concentrate on • longer-term issues • sector-specific issues • right at the beginning set • who should participate • what the goals are • what the process should be

22. Tripartism • Auto Pact lessons • keep expectations low • start with sectors predisposed to work together • businesses w/i sector meet together first • have all parties share cost • do it behind closed doors

23. Tripartism • Free Trade Agreement • SAGIT • Sectoral Advisory Groups on International Trade • ITAC • International Trade Advisory Committee

24. Tripartism • FTA lessons • tight, external timeline • clear reason to be there • for each participant • cost to walking away • process has backing of PM • do it without fanfare

25. Taylor’s general advice • to government: • say what you’re after • consultation • advice • deal • window-dressing

26. Taylor’s general advice • to government: • recruit senior bureaucrats from business • expose bureaucrats to business strategic planning

27. Taylor’s general advice • to both: • recognize that some sectors will win & others lose • have plan for “losers” • don’t pick • recognize & support