Interest Groups in Forest Policy

1. Interest Groups in Forest Policy

2. Today’s Lecture • Interest Groups • strategies • resources • Organization, resources, and strategies for • Industry Groups • Labour • Environmental Groups

3. Analytical Framework: Forces at work in natural resources policy governance policies environment actions markets

4. Governance governance Who decides Who participates At what level? • Interest groups • Interests • Resources • Strategies

5. What are the interests (core objectives) of your group?

6. How do interest groups try to influence public policy?

7. Pralle Framework on group strategies - branching out, digging in (p. 16) • Issue definition • “framing” - using rhetoric and symbols to expand or contain conflicts • Linking • Boundaries • Ownership • Actors • expanding and restricting political participation • Institutions • Expanding jurisdictions • changing venues • modifying rules

8. Group Tactics • lobby • influence public opinion • through media • influence market behaviour • finance elections • litigation • form coalitions • direct action (demonstrations, civil disobedience)

9. Group Resources • money • expertise (substance, process) • control over investment, jobs • skilled leadership (effective, charismatic) • appealing cause • public opinion • contacts

10. What resources does your group have to influence policy?

11. Forest Industry • individual firms • industry associations • provincial • national

12. Forest Science Centre

13. Size of Firm, by fraction of AAC, 2003 Sept 3, 2003, MOF

14. 2000s Consolidation

15. 2000s Consolidation • Canfor (1) bought Slocan (3) • Riverside (7) bought Lignum (18) • Tolko (10) bought Riverside (6) • West Fraser (3) bought Weldwood (8) from IP • Weyerhaeuser sold its coastal holdings (previously adquired from MacMillan Bloedel) to Brascan, which created Cascadia, which was then bought by Western Forest Products

16. Size of Firm, by fraction of AAC, 2013source September 2013 The Big 5

17. Provincial Associations • Council of Forest Industries – Interior Only • Coastal Forest Products Association • Truck Loggers Association

18. National Association • Forest Products Association of Canada • required 3rd party certification from all of its members by 2005 • Boreal agreement with environmentalists

19. Forest Industry Resources Structural advantage (privileged position) of business • money advantage • buys expertise, leadership • control over investment, jobs - example • government seeks reelection • reelection depends on jobs, healthy economy • jobs, growth created by investment • investment a function of business climate • government constrained from undermining business climate • weak economy strengthens business influence over government

20. Industry Objectives • Profit • Certainty

21. Industry Strategies • lobbying, campaign finance • coalition building with communities, workers • influence public opinion through media • FPAC op eds

22. Labour - Objectives • Jobs • Higher wages • Security • Safety

23. Steep drop in employment

24. Environmental Organizations - Objectives • Environmental quality • Organizational maintenance

25. Engo Resources – salience vs. support • Public Opinion: • Support – general attitudes on an issue • Example: how important is the protection of old growth forests to you? • Salience – how the issue is ranked among most important problems • Example: how important is a party position on old growth conservation to your vote? Environmental group power function of salience

26. Issues in the May 2013 election Source: George Hoberg, What Issues Mattered in the 2013 British Columbia Election? Some Context on the Kinder Morgan Surprise, based on Ipsos-Reid data

27. Power Shift: Market strategies • Create economic power by influencing purchasers of BC forest products • Boycotts • Purchasing policies • Certification (next week)

28. Market Strategies:Great Bear Rainforest • targeted buyers of wood from old growth coastal temperate rainforests • over 80 companies, including Ikea, Home Depot, Staples and IBM, committed to stop selling wood products made from these forests • forcing logging companies to negotiate with environmentalists • gave enviros a form of economic power

29. Environmental Group Influence • general public support • can be jeopardized by “radical” tactics • disadvantage on money, expertise • real power dependent on salience, markets

30. Groups – Conclusion thus far • Interest groups matter • Different objectives, resources and strategies • Strategic choice can influence policy • Business has structural advantage • Environmentalists can benefit from issue salience and market actions

31. Actors – Interests and Resources

32. New Themes • Actors in the policy process have interests and resources, and adopt strategies designed to best use those resources in pursuit of their interests • Business control over investment gives it a structural advantage • Public opinion is far more influential on policy makers when it is salient • Environmentalists have effectively used market-oriented strategies to increase their power • First Nations have effectively used the courts to increase their power • The BC government has undergone a profound shift in relations towards First Nations, from active repression through resistance and now apparently sincere efforts at reconciliation