Five Good Ideas about government relations

In this session, originally recorded on January 29, 2018, Jaime Watt, Executive Chairman of Navigator, a public strategy and communications firm, shares his five good ideas about government relations.

When approaching politicians with your issues, you will be competing for attention with many other stakeholder groups. To help politicians understand your issues, your message will need to be clear, crisp and concise. Jaime Watt presents his five good ideas on how to get your message heard and acted on.

Five Good Ideas

1. Offer a benefit to the decision maker while simultaneously making your demand. Simply put, create a win for the government.
2. Be aware that you are competing for attention with other stakeholder groups.
3. Your message must be consistent and the information distilled.
4. Be clear, crisp, concise.
5. Discover the cross-section between your objectives and the changing government agenda.

Related resource:

1. Thank you for smoking, a movie by Jason Reitman – An example of how not to practice.
2. Lobbying Act, Government of Canada Justice Rules website – The lobby rules, a must read for any practitioner.
3. Lobbying for Change, book by Alberto Alemanno – A book which signals that lobbying is not always evil.
4. The realities of lobbying – a look beyond the smoke and mirrors, TEDx Talk by Maria Laptev  – In defense of lobbying.

For the full transcript, visit https://maytree.com/five-good-ideas/five-good-ideas-government-relations/

About Jaime Watt

Jaime Watt is the Executive Chairman of Navigator Ltd. He specializes in complex public strategy issues, serving both domestic and international clients in the corporate, professional services, not-for-profit, and government sectors. He is a trusted advisor to business leaders as well as political leaders at all three levels of government across Canada. Jaime has led ground-breaking election campaigns that have transformed politics because of their boldness and creativity. Jaime is immediate past president of the Albany Club, Canada’s oldest political club. He also serves on the boards of many other organizations including the Canada Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation in Toronto, the Shaw Festival and Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. As well, he chairs the Capital Campaign for Casey House, Canada’s pioneer AIDS hospice, and is past president of the Canadian Club of Toronto, Canada’s oldest podium of record. Deeply involved with efforts to promote equality and human rights issues, he was the inaugural recipient of Egale’s Lifetime Achievement Award and has been awarded the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals for service to the community. He recently received Out on Bay Street’s Leader to be Proud of Award. Jaime has been elected to the College of Fellows of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, is a Toronto Heritage Companion, and was recently named one of Toronto’s most influential citizens. A highly regarded speaker, Jaime appears often as a public affairs commentator in the media.