Some Lessons from 25 Years as a Government Relations Consultant

Leonard Domino

"The government should do something!" We've all said that. One way or another, most people in Ontario are involved in government relations. It may be through the company you own or work for; through industry associations you belong to; through organizations from Parent-Teacher to Game and Fish. It's important to keep an eye on government because the things governments do - or don't do - have such a huge impact on our personal well-being. These lessons, gleaned from more than 20 years in the "lobbying" or government relations industry, can help you understand - and have a voice in the government relations efforts that affect you, your family, your business or your community.

LESSON ONE: The trick is "no trick".
There really is no trick to successful government relations.

I first started helping organizations to reason with government about 25 years ago. Before that, I'd been a political campaign organizer; I'd been a school teacher; I'd been elected as a Member of the Manitoba Legislature; I'd worked as an Executive Assistant and Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister in Ontario's Ministries of Natural Resources and Health; and I'd worked as a consultant helping Saskatchewan's Minister of Health with a series of public consultations about health services in that province.

Along the way, I thought I'd developed a pretty good understanding of the way government worked so it made sense for me to try my hand at being a "government relations consultant". A lot of people told me it would never work because I didn't have "connections". "It's not what you know, it's who you know," they told me.

We still meet people who think that's how government relations have to work.

I didn't think that was true back then and I'm sure it's not true today. I've always believed I can help my clients build successful government relations by treating the people inside government exactly the way I had liked being treated when I was sitting on the government side of the table respectfully, honestly and professionally - and by taking the time to understand exactly what they were striving to achieve.

Then, I tell my clients, we can work to find ways they can meet our goals while also meeting their own.

That's the approach we've been following for the past 25 years. It works - at the national, provincial and local level. There's no trick to it, but it does involve a lot of thinking, and a lot of hard work.

LESSON TWO: Government relations and partisan politics are two totally different things.

The competition between political parties has become more and more of a full-contact sport. Politicians want to persuade you that the people in the other parties are less capable, less trustworthy and honest, less sensitive. Politicians say quite terrible things about one another and, not surprisingly, they sometimes hold grudges, especially at election times.

The basic rule in the world of partisan politics is "You're either with me or against me". The basic rule in the world of government relations is very different. It's "You have to work with the government that's there".

Governments don't get there by accident. They're elected - and that gives them the right to make decisions and take actions, including decisions and actions you might disagree with. You may want to vote against them at the next election. You may even want to work against them during the campaign. But for now, they're the government. Get used to it.

If you act like a partisan enemy, you'll be treated like a partisan enemy.

Look back at Lesson One: treat the people on the government side of the table respectfully, honestly and professionally and take the time to understand exactly what they were striving to achieve.

Then work to find ways they can meet our goals while also meeting their own.

LESSON THREE: Always take the time to find ont what the government thinks it is doing - and focns on the "why" and the "why not".

Governments almost never set out deliberately to do harm. They are almost always receptive to realistic suggestions that can help make things better for citizens. But there are so many issues and concerns on governments' plates that it's not surprising if they sometimes fail to
understand issues the same way you do.

In fact, you should never take it for granted that the people in government understand issues the same way you do. That's true for governments as a whole, and it's true for individual elected members, too.

In some cases, all the people in government need is more information. Rural and agricultural issues are a very clear example. As Ontario farmers were facing a serious income crisis over the past 18 months, it was easy to assume that the government just didn't care. The truth was, they would have cared, but it was hard to get them to notice.

Rural members and Ministers were very much aware of the farmers' plight but a far smaller percentage of Ontario's population live in rural areas today than 20 years ago; an even smaller percentage has direct links to the rural economy.

Once the Grain and Oilseed Safety Net Committee made a special effort to contact urban and other Members of the Legislature to give them
information about the situation, the government as a whole became more responsive and we began to make progress.

LESSON FOUR: Starting a fight with the government should be your last option.

There are some amazingly arrogant groups out there who think they have the right to tell our elected governments how to behave. They question the government's right to govern - never mind the election results.

They often act like political partisans - staging press events to impugn the motives and character of the people in government, claiming to speak for "the people" or "all pensioners" or "the working man" or "the farm community". They love to hold protest events.

Look back at Lesson Two "If you act like a partisan enemy, you'll be treated like a partisan enemy".

Sometimes it makes sense to put some public pressure on the government, but be very, very careful
here. Events like the farmers' march on Queen's Park in March helped to focus public attention on farm issues, but it was managed very carefully: no personal attacks on people in the government, lots of notice so Ministers and others had a chance to develop answers instead of just being embarrassed; they even left the Queen's Park ground spotless.

The message wasn't that farmers were the enemy. It was that they were exactly the kind of people the government would like to have for friends.

People do get angry and frustrated by government. In many cases, bureaucrats who are just "working by the book" can pose tremendous roadblocks. When that happens, it makes better sense to work with the bureaucrats and the elected officials to "change the book" than it does to get into an unrestrained battle with the government.

We had a phrase on the prairies years ago to describe a choice to go to real battle with the government. We used to say it was a decision to "burn the cars". You burned the cars because - once you'd crossed that line into full confrontation - no one was going to be driving home: there was no retreat.

That should always be your last option.

LESSON FIVE: Government relations is too important to be left to the government relations consultants.

It's also too important to be left to the government relations departments of the organizations who work to represent you.

The perceptions of the people inside government whose decisions will affect your interests reflect the perceptions of the community at large. That's why it's so important that - instead of treating government relations as a private activity involving paid professionals and government functionaries - we understand that there's a huge overlap between government relations and community relations.

Work actively in your organizations to make sure they're getting the basic message right, and then take personal responsibility for sharing that message widely in the community at large. Talk to your local MPP. Talk to other elected officials - from mayors to school trustees. Talk to the members of other organizations you're associated with from service clubs to the chamber of commerce, to members of your parish church.

The more people who understand your position, the easier it will be for government to take the actions you'd like them to take.

LESSON SIX: None of this will work unless what you're asking government to do really is in the public interest.

In a sense, this should be Lesson One: the people in government have taken a solemn oath to serve the public interest. Unless what you're asking them to do passes that test, your "government relations" efforts will probably fail - and they'll deserve to fail.

And that's one of the most positive aspects of any serious effort to develop
a modern government relations strategy: we have to start by moving beyond our own sense of entitlement. We have to say "I know this is good for me, but how is it good for the community as a whole?"

That's the question the people in government are going to be asking. So it's the question we should ask - and answer honestly - as a key step in all our government relations strategies.

LESSON SEVEN: Just because you're committed to respectful government relations and serious efforts to serve the broader public interest doesn't mean you can't be very tough indeed.

In fact, it's quite the opposite.

Being polite, respectful, honest and non-confrontational will help you to develop the trust and the standing you'll need if it ever becomes time to be a little - or a lot - tougher.

These are pretty much the rules the Grain and Oilseed Safety Net Committee has followed in its government relations programs over the past year. How are they working?