As the clock ticked down to a crucial 2003 parliamentary vote on whether to require labelling of food products containing genetically modified material, Ottawa’s lobby industry was in overdrive.
It was a private member’s bill subject to a free vote and while the majority Liberal government of the day officially opposed the idea, the sponsor was Toronto Liberal Charles Caccia and a number of Liberals were leaning in support.
Officials from many farm groups joined lobbyists for the seed companies and agribusiness to press MPs not to support it, even in principle. Environmental groups, in alliance with the National Farmers Union and the Council of Canadians, worked the parliamentary corridors in support of Caccia.
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One veteran of Parliament Hill said at the time he had not seen as much lobby traffic through his office since the Crow debate decades earlier.
The bill was narrowly defeated.
For GM supporters, it was a close call. It also was a prime example of the power of lobbying to affect the political landscape.
Like most capital cities, Ottawa is awash in lobbyists, the folks who work behind the scenes to try to influence politicians, bureaucrats, policy and regulations.
They populate office towers near Parliament Hill and spend their days watching government to make sure the interests of their clients are advanced or at least not harmed.
Many political watchers, particularly the cynics, see lobbying as a dark, seamy side of the system that involves the pursuit of special interests at the expense of the public good.
Sometimes, that may be true but there is another, more benign way to consider the role of lobbyists.
They exist to ensure politicians and policy makers do not operate in a vacuum. Decisions, rules and policies always have consequences, many unintended.
It is the role of the lobbyist to try to influence what comes out of the legislative and regulatory sausage-making machine and if they cannot win changes that benefit the client, at the very least they make certain the likely consequences are known.
If the bureaucrats don’t get it or disagree, lobbyists head for the political level.
The agriculture and food industries are well represented in the business because their industry is so deeply affected by politics and policy decisions.
So it was not surprising last week that when the Ottawa-based political newspaper The Hill Times compiled a list of “the top 100 lobbyists,” at least four were from the agriculture and food community.
The list included: Gordon Quaiattini of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association; Richard Phillips of Grain Growers of Canada; Carla Ventin of Food and Consumer Products of Canada; and trade and regulatory specialist Peter Clark who counts Pork Council of Canada, Dairy Farmers of Canada and Food Processors of Canada among his clients.
By the way, that image of secret manipulators influencing public policy for private interests is a bit out of date, at least in one respect. The federal Registry of Lobbyists has lifted some of the veil, requiring them to register clients and lobby targets.
