Message from Hamza..
My friend Hamza who was protesting in Casablanca
today (Sunday, March 13, 2011) was asked if he was ok.
He gave this answer... Quick translation:
A violent
confrontation
ensued during
which a reporter
said he witnessed
police beating a
pregnant woman
and some young
girls. "It was
unusually violent,"
he said.
'I am not ok, when I just saw them beat the teeth out of
a 13 year old child who was saying 'Peaceful Peaceful
until we reach freedom'
It's not ok when they stepped with boots on my
teacher.
It's not ok When they broke my friend Rahims hand.
It's not ok when they have been beating me and other
people until we could not see anymore.
It's not ok when they broke my camera.
It's not ok when they slapped people, broke people and
made them bleed'.
http://mariamsrevolution.blogspot.com/2011/03/sad-message-from-my-friend-hamza.html
photo, shortly after the blog entry: http://www.france24.com/en/20110313-dozens-injured-after-police-breakprotest-casablanca-reform-democracy
Along with a $200,000 fundraising pitch
to riding associations, on March 3,
a staffer in Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's
(Calgary Southeast, Alta.) office
unintentionally sent to
NDP MP Linda Duncan (Edmonton-Strathcona, Alta.)
28 pages of PowerPoint slides outlining
the Conservatives' "Ethnic Paid Media Strategy"
to build the Conservative brand
in cultural communities.
They build relationships, garner trust,
anticipate pushback on any given issue
and come up with a communications strategy,
understand the machinery of government,
have access to key decision-makers inside government,
and are "sensitive to the 'politics' of decision making,"
say insiders in the Government Relations (GR) industry
• There are more than 5,000 lobbyists in Canada registered
to lobby the federal government.
• To make it to the TOP 100 list:
– the lobbyists have to be registered with the Office of the
Lobbying Commissioner,
– they have to be influential with the current Conservative
government
– have the ability to manoeuvre their way through the federal
bureaucracy in order to move their or their client's file
– and/or, they have to represent an organization with clout, not
onlyin size, but with public policy issues at the forefront of
today's political climate.
Top 100 Lobbyists
• several energy-related corporations or lobbyists on the list
because it's an issue on the top of the government agenda
at the moment.
• also why there are no environmental groups on the list,
because, as has been previously reported: environment
issues are not on this Conservative government's radar.
• while perhaps not at the top of the government's agenda, a
popular issue the past while has been the battle between
cable companies and broadcasters over the fee-for-carriage
issue.
– So there are several telecommunications companies and
lobbyists who represent them on the list.
The Firm & its Team
• lobbying is often done in a team approach
– therefore no one lobbyist can stand out.
• Sometimes the team is made up of lobbyists
from a cross-section of lobby firms
• But in many, if not most cases, the team is
made up by and within a firm and without the
contacts and support of key members in a
firm, the 'top lobbyists' would be lost.
• The synergy of the team propels everyone.
The Hill Times Top 100 list
•
•
•
•
THE 'CONSULTANT' LOBBYISTS
Kristin Anderson
Global Public Affairs
A former Conservative Party staffer, Kristin Anderson is a
well-connected lobbyist who specializes in energy and
natural resources issues.
• As the climate change debate comes to the forefront, she
will be busy lobbying on behalf of her clients, Conoco
Phillips Canada, Shell Canada Limited, Canadian Natural
Resources Limited, Canadian Energy Pipeline Association,
Alliance Pipeline Limited Partnership and the Canadian
Association of Petroleum Producers.
David Angus, Capital Hill Group
• As a former federal and provincial political staffer, David Angus has the knowledge and network and is
considered to be one of the most successful lobbyists in town.
•
He worked as the caucus liaison in Brian Mulroney's PMO from 1985-1987 and has more than 30 years of
public policy and communications experience.
•
He is currently registered to lobby the federal government on behalf of more than 50 companies, including
Molson Canada, UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bell Canada, Lockheed Martin, MacKenzie
Aboriginal Corporation, and the CanadianShipowners Association among several others.
Don Boudria, Hill and Knowlton
• former Liberal MP and Cabinet minister for almost 20 years, is well-connected
and an expert on government machinery. He is a senior counsellor at Hill and
Knowlton, and is currently registered for Amgen Canada Inc., Council of Ontario
Universities, Talisman Energy Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications, Bell
Canada, Embraer Empressa Brasilera Aeronautics, Merck Frosst Canada and
Canada's Research Based Pharmaceutical Companies among several others.
Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates
Clark is a respected lobbyist among insiders. He is a former public servant who worked for Foreign Affairs and
Finance for more than 10 years, specializing in trade issues. As a lobbyist, his clients reflect his expertise in
the regulated industries and services, including food standards and safety and security. He's currently
registered to lobby the federal government on behalf of Dairy Farmers of Canada, Cameco Corporation,
Methanex Corporation, Japan Iron and Steel Federation, U.S. Steel International, Coalition for Fair Lumber
Imports, Food Processors of Canada, and the Canadian Pork Council, among several others.
Budget Process
• Pre-budget consultations in the fall
• "Pre-budget stuff is very busy," said Geoff
Norquay, a principal at government relations firm
Earnscliffe Strategy Group. "The budget is the
principal spending commitment of the year...”
• Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has signalled the
federal budget will be tight this year and while
some lobbyists say that means the government is
tuning out lobbyists on pre-budget consultations,
others say it's business as usual.
Among the 5 most influential Lobby organizations in USA
Monitor Group's project for Gadhafi was officially called
"The Project to Enhance the Public Image of Libya and
Moammar Gadhafi."
– 1500 employees and 29 offices around the world that
boasts governments, nonprofits, and companies as clients
– also raises questions about the line between academic research and
advocacy.
– Monitor asked for an “open budget’’ to pay for the trips of
prominent people to Libya, and in some cases offered
compensation for their time, according to internal memos
published by the Libyan opposition group.
– contract with a consulting group which promised to
“enhance the profile of Libya and Muammar Quadhafi” in
Britain and the US
Professors sent to visit Gaddafi included luminaries such as
Joseph Nye, former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard; Lord Anthony Giddens, former head of the London School
of Economics; Francis Fukuyama political philosopher from Stanford
University; and Benjamin Barber, who has written extensively about
democracy...
• Joseph Nye of Harvard’s Kennedy School wrote in The
New Republic in 2007 that Muammar Qaddafi was
interested in discussing “direct democracy.”
• Anthony Giddens of the London School of Economics
wrote in the Guardian the same year that Libya under
Qaddafi could become “the Norway of North Africa.”
• Benjamin Barber of Rutgers University wrote in the
Washington Post, also in 2007, that Libya under Qaddafi
could become “the first Arab state to transition
peacefully and without overt Western intervention to a
FP Jan 2010
Stephen M. Walt
Prof, Int Rel @ Harvard
• I was invited to give a lecture to its Economic
Development Board, following in the footsteps of a
number of other recent American visitors, including Frank
Fukuyama, Bernard Lewis, Joseph Nye, Robert Putnam,
Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Richard Perle (!). I'd never
been to Libya before, and was looking forward to hearing
what the audience had to say.
• Libya appears to be more open than contemporary Iran or
China and the overall atmosphere seemed far less
oppressive than most places I visited in the old Warsaw
Pact.
• My own view (even before I visited) is that the
improvement of U.S.-Libyan relations as one of the few
(only?) success stories in recent U.S. Middle East
diplomacy.
• http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/18/the_shor
es_of_tripoli
On the Monitor Group’s website (now offline)
– the group said it seeks to promote Libya by educating the White House
and Congress about the country's "growing importance in maintaining
stability in North Africa as well as Libya's potential as an expanding
commercial market for American business."
– The website also touts the USLBA's proximity to Gaddafi, stating that
"we were the only U.S. business group to meet privately" with the
leader during Gaddafi's "historic first visit" to the United Nations in
2009.
– tried to groom Saif as a “thought leader” in Europe and in the United
States, and reportedly received $3 million for the attempted
makeover.
• Bilateral trade with Libya totaled $2.7 billion in 2010, compared to
practically nothing in 2003 when sanctions were still in force.
• Richard Perle, as paid advisor to Monitor group, "traveled to Libya
twice in 2006 to meet with Qadhafi, and afterward briefed Vice
President Dick Cheney on his visits, according to documents
released by a Libyan opposition group in 2009.“
– This was known: that the elite Lobby Groups were working to burnish
Libya's and Qadhafi's image in a series of documents obtained and
released by a Libyan opposition group, the National Conference of the
Libyan Opposition, in 2009.
– Other groups hired: Blank Rome & White and Case
• Reflecting Monitor group's influence, founding
chairman David Goldwyn was appointed the State
Department's coordinator for international energy
affairs by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
– On a visit to Libya in December 2008, Goldwyn waxed
rhapsodic about the "fantastically warm reception" he and
eight U.S. executives received from senior Libyan officials.
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/24/muammar-gaddafius-business-lobby_n_827769.html
– Anne-Marie Slaughter, director of policy and planning in
the US State Dept.
– considered one of the most influential officials at the State
Department
– abruptly left last month
• Hillary's close adviser caught in Libya scandal
• http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=273305
In May through July 2009, the Libyan
government's lobbyists contacted
Rep. David Scott (D-GA),
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
and former Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA), who
were all on the House Foreign Affairs
Committee at the time.
Lobbyists also directly contacted the House
Foreign Affairs Committee and the U.S.
Department of State. FARA records show that
these meetings were regarding the "status of
U.S. Libyan relations."
How to Lobby 101?
Professors Paid by Qaddafi: Providing 'Positive Public Relations'
– none of them said in The New Republic, the Guardian, or the Washington Post that they
were being paid by Libyan money. That seems to be a clear violation of journalistic
ethics—at least that’s what the then-editor of The New Republic, Franklin Foer, told David
Corn of Mother Jones about Nye: “If we had known that he was consulting for a firm paid
by the government, we wouldn’t have run the piece.”
– Nye states: “In 2007 the Monitor Group which is a consulting company started by Harvard
Business School professors was trying to see if they could make reforms or help Libya
make reforms, this is a time when Libya had apparently changed its foreign policy, they'd
given up their nuclear weapons program and were working on efforts to change or open
up.” ...that’s all he says...
– Monitor’s role in Libya has come under increasing scrutiny.
– More detail from Boston Globe: “firm received $250,000 a month from the Libyan
government from 2006 to 2008 for a wide range of services, including writing the book
proposal, bringing prominent academics to Libya to meet Khadafy “to enhance
international appreciation of Libya’’ and trying to generate positive news coverage of the
country.”
– Nye: “And so Monitor asked a number of prominent western intellectuals to go to Libya
and to try to bring new ideas to Libya and they invited me to do so. I thought it would be
interesting to see what Gaddafi was like, and also to see if it was possible to make any
difference.” Nye emailed: "I was not told the contract was to ‘enhance the profile of
Qaddafi.’” Instead, Monitor told him that "the contract was to help bring about reform in
Libya."
Livingston Group
• Representative Robert L. Livingston left Congress in 1999 amid allegations
of marital infidelity
• Louisiana Republican went from being a $136,000-a-year congressman to
the principal of The Livingston Group, a prominent lobby shop pulling in
tens of millions of dollars and developing a specialty representing foreign
governments including those of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Egypt.
• Libyan signed contract:
– use Livingston’s influence to help normalize Libya’s relations with the United
States at a time that he wants to partner with U.S. oil companies to tap into
the country’s substantial oil reserves.
– Note: at the time it had signed a contract with the Livingston Group, its unpaid
claims to the victims of a half dozen terrorist attacks, including the downing of
Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, had hindered further progress
– Livingston himself has escorted Ambassador Aujali to a series of meetings with
Congressional leaders, buttonholing members of both parties to discuss IraqU.S. Relations
– Livingstone’s Lauri Fitz-Pegado accompanied the chairman of the Qadhafia
International Charity and Development Foundation - Qadhafia’s son - to the
World Economic Forum in Davos in February, assisting him in “discussions
regarding the foundation’s primary interests - human rights, the role of civil
society, climate change, education and training.”
Livingston & Monitor Groups
• Sunlight Foundation's Reporting Group blog & its Foreign Lobbying Influence
Tracker.
• Group headed by Gaddafi's son Saif Al Islam Al Gaddafi, also registered to lobby
and hired the Livingston Group. The Gaddafi International Charity and
Development Foundation's representatives in Washington held four meetings with
68 people from different think tanks and independent organizations.
• Latest documents filed by Livingston with the U.S. Department of Justice, dated
February 2010 and earlier, provides a road map of lobbying row and how it may
open doors for dictators. Knew this in 2009, see map:
http://news.muckety.com/2009/03/19/lawmaker-turned-lobbyist-bob-livingston-presses-libyas-agenda/13341
• In a single 6 month period, Livingston arranged for Libyan Ambassador Ali Aujali to
hold private meetings with 23 members of Congress — nearly half of the U.S.
House Foreign Affairs Committee. In the words of their September 18, 2009, filing,
all of their activities “can be defined broadly as constituting political activity.”
• Presented the “soft” side of Gaddafi’s Libya
– Les Campbell, the regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at the National Democratic
Institute, was approached: My impression was that this was one of these typical “let’s try to put a
different face on a repressive regime” type of attempts.
–
–
–
More: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/pjm-exclusive-two-u-s-lobbyists-paid-5-4m-by-libya-to-boost-regimes-image/
http://sunlightfoundation.com/press/articles/2011/02/22/spotlight-libya-lobbyists/
http://news.muckety.com/2009/03/19/lawmaker-turned-lobbyist-bob-livingston-presses-libyas-agenda/13341
“We Demand”
LEADING THINKERS VIDEO: Reimagining the city
Youth demand municipal engagement
Special to Globe and Mail Update
Monday, Mar. 07, 2011
Naheed Nenshi, mayor of Calgary,
championed younger voters during his
campaign. "They're not apathetic," he says
of youth in Canadian cities. "They need to
understand that the institutions . . . are
actually interested in engaging with
them.“
LISTEN:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/leading-thinkers/youth-demand-municipal-engagement/article1932329/
Steps of Parliament, Ottawa, August 28, 1971.
Vancouver
Courthouse,
AugustAugust
28, 1971
Steps of Parliament,
Ottawa,
28, 1971.
GetInvolved.ca
Agenda Camps
Getmatched
Chapter 8: The Bureaucracy
• Policy implementation is the role of the bureaucracy
• Implementation is not, however, an automatic
process of converting legislative decisions into
action. Unelected officials often wield enormous
discretion in applying laws and administering
programs
• The bureaucracy’s influence is not restricted to the
implementation stage of policy-making. It begins at
the agenda-setting stage, when problems and
possible responses are being defined
Components of the Public Sector
• The public service. About half of the federal public
sector falls into this category which includes all
statutory departments and other organizations
whose members are employees of the Treasury
Board
• Agencies and tribunals. These include such
regulatory bodies as the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission, the National
Transportation Agency, and the National Energy
Board
More Components of the Public Sector
• Crown corporations. These are organizations that, in
some cases, perform commercial functions and
typically operate at ‘arm’s length’ from the
government of the day.
– Examples: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Export
Development Canada, the Farm Credit Corporation and Via
Rail
• Other organizations. Canadian Forces, the RCMP,
independent commissioners reporting to Parliament,
including the Privacy Commissioner, the
Commissioner of Official Languages and the AuditorGeneral
Issues Concerning the Bureaucracy’s Role and
Performance
•
•
•
•
•
Administrative discretion
Partisan neutrality
The role of the deputy-minister
Representation and responsiveness
“On top” or “on tap”? (see http://www.yesminister.com )
Setting Priorities and the Legislative Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
Speech from the Throne
Expenditure budget
Revenue budget and economic statements
White papers; royal commissions; task forces
Almost all legislation passed by parliament has
been introduced by a government minister
Budget Simulation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Prime Minister
Finance Minister
Minister of Health
Minister of Defence
Minister of Industry
Minister of Environment
Minister of INAC
Minister of Canadian Heritage
Minister of Natural Resources
Minister of Justice
Interest Groups
• Canadian Nurses
Association
• Council of Canadians
• President of the CBC
• President of the Canada
Council
• President of SSHRC
• President of NSERC
• President of Canadian
Federation of University
Students
• AUCC
• Mining Association of
Canada
• Canadian Medical
Association
• Grand Chief of the
Assembly of First Nations
• National Inuit President,
ITK, Mary Simon
• Green Budget Coalition