The How-to's of Commissions, Consultations, & Committees

The challenge of presenting before a commission or committee is ensuring that your message stands a reasonable chance of being adopted. Witnesses must make the best of their testimony. They must get an edge over other groups which compete for the ear of the member. Expert witnesses are not necessarily expert communicators. While many preliminary steps are required to get ready, the following “last minute checklist”, conducted just prior to appearing, might help you take your message to the Hill.

Whether it is to present a case on a fact-finding enquiry or to be embroiled in debate on the merits or costs of clauses in a bill, committees enable Canadians to intersect the policy and legislative process. Parliamentary committees are also the place where members truly roll-up their sleeves to delve into the issues.

Of course, all public policy advisors would agree on one key point: that to influence the policy-making process its best to get in at the earliest stages. This confirms the importance of the constant flurry of departmental consultations, caucus briefings and private one-on-one meetings between parliamentarians and groups. Still, parliamentary committees are unmatched in channelling Canadians’ views to government.

There are other compelling reasons for witnesses to enhance their committee performance. A committee visit may involve managing media relations; testimony may be of interest to ministers or regulators; what is raised at committee could become an issue in Question Period (which is particularly significant for public servants). If CPAC is covering the hearing, a witness is also communicating to a national TV-audience. In short, a committee appearance can be a linchpin for broader communication efforts. (This explains why groups may use committees to table fresh research or announce new initiatives.)

Effective testimonies can also hinge on whether a relationship has been developed with members or those in the bureaucracy who may have organized the consultation process. Witnesses that just blow into town for one meeting, drop their testimony and leave risk being marginalized. Seasoned witnesses rarely air their solutions with members for the first time at the committee table. Working at the constituency level, for instance, helps familiarize members to the issues. The rule of thumb for witnesses appearing before committees is tailor your strategy.

Also crucial is finding additional partners with whom which you could partner, double up, or reciprocally further back a position. As mentioned in Corridors, Action Strategies' Government Relations Newsletter, we've been working with a national trade association looking to present before Quebec's Energy Efficiency Agency. Crucial to this process has been identifying partners and determining the relevance of the message we have to offer.

In future postings, I'll get more into detail on the make ups of committee hearings and how they can be best leveraged.
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Mark Buzan is the owner of Action Strategies, a public affairs & marketing communications consultancy. You can subscribe now to his monthly public affairs newsletter by visiting www.actionstrategies.ca and dropping down the newsletter menu.