Public Participation in Policy Making
Public policy consultation is the process of engaging stakeholders and citizens in the development, implementation, and evaluation of public policies. Public policy consultation can have various benefits, such as enhancing the quality and legitimacy of policies, building trust and social cohesion, and fostering democratic participation and accountability. However, public policy consultation also faces many challenges, such as ensuring representation, inclusiveness, transparency, and effectiveness of the consultation methods and outcomes.
There are different approaches and methods governments use for conducting public policy consultation in Canada, depending on the context, objectives, and scope of the policy issue. Some of the common methods include surveys, focus groups, town hall meetings, online platforms, advisory committees, and deliberative forums. The Government of Canada has issued various guidelines and frameworks for effective public policy consultation, such as the Guidelines for Effective Regulatory Consultations, the Framework: Public Participation, and the Government of Canada and the duty to consult.
Information technology and social media are expanding public policy consultation's reach, accessibility, and diversity. These tools help analyse data, develop feedback systems, and expand consultations. These technologies make it difficult to combine the breadth and depth of public policy consultation.
This requires balancing consultation speed and quality. Evidence and knowledge are crucial to public policy consultation. These factors are essential to consultation enrichment. However, the legitimacy, relevance, and validity of process information sources and inputs are equally crucial.
Finally, public policy consultation has ethical and legal concerns. This is especially true for Indigenous, minority, and vulnerable populations' rights and interests. A fair and inclusive consultation process requires careful management of these factors.
In 2017, Ekos Politics conducted research with over 1000 people to ask their views on public engagement and consultation. The survey found that 67% of respondents were unaware that governments routinely provided opportunities for public consultation on policy development. And that 65% had never participated in any form of government consultation. Yet 83% said the government should “consult with as many people as possible” and preferably with a “representative group of people to ensure the views reflect the population.” Interestingly, only 38% said consultations should be “conducted only with those people affected by the issue.”
The message is clear. While there is a strong public desire to be heard, most people don’t know how or have the opportunity to take part in these processes. In an ideal situation, governments could employ a form of direct democracy whereby citizens get to make policy choices. The reality is that people are just too busy and often won’t have the expert knowledge of complex issues needed for thoughtful deliberations.
The chart on the public’s preferred engagement method suggests very few people are regularly monitoring departmental websites for consultation information and opportunities. As we will see later, such government internet resources provide a treasure trove of valuable information for anyone seeking to communicate with or respond to the government. But someone needs to be researching these sources in a routine, methodical manner. That is why trade organizations and special interest groups are so important and will likely remain the lynchpin of government relations for a long time to come.
Trade Organizations and Interest Groups
The terms interest group and trade organization, or pressure group, are often used interchangeably so some clarification is needed. Groups by their nature embody an aggregation of interests that is useful to the functioning of government. The term interest group refers to the “more general sense of a group sharing a common interest,” while trade organization refers to those organizations that have “chosen to embark on political activity.” Without either of these types of groups it would be much harder for modern governments to operate.
Trade organizations are organizations whose members act together to influence public policy in order to promote their common interest. Trade organizations are reasonably permanent in the policy making process while interest groups and the concerns of individuals tend to be transitory or highly specific. These trade organizations seek an active role in the governing process. They do not strive for governmental power, as do political parties, but they do attempt to influence decision making within their particular field of interest over time. Most scholars accept that trade organizations are partners within the governmental system.
In his review of group politics and public policy development, Frank Baumgartner writes that “groups are at the heart of the political process: they are central to the process of representation...they disseminate information from political elites to the mass public... they are active in every level of government in providing information, in speaking for affected constituencies and in debating the merits of proposed policy changes.” Not only do trade organizations have a say in policy development but they also have a role in legitimising decisions of government to their own members and the public.
The way in which trade organizations relate to government also differs from the role assumed by individuals and issue-oriented interest groups. People who interact with legislators for their own specific interests usually seek redress for an administrative wrong and issue oriented groups typically join together for a specific and finite purpose, such as creation of a park or prevention of a precise policy initiative. Trade organizations, however, are here for the duration. They generally have an objective in playing a role over the long-term and working constructively with successive governments and legislators over a broad number of policy issues within their given field. The membership base, long-term focus and policy specialization of trade organizations is what ultimately provides these organizations with political influence.
