The Broadbent Institute’s Progress Summit wrapped up this Saturday, with hundreds of attendees gathering at the Delta Ottawa City Centre for three days to hear from speakers that included political philosopher Charles Taylor, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Ed Broadbent himself.

Ed Broadbent, former leader of the federal NDP between 1975 and 1989, welcomes delegates to the Progress Summit March 26. He said he told his colleagues he wouldn’t be speaking long, so was fine holding on to his own glass of wine.        Alyssa O’Dell photo.

In only its second year, more than 900 people signed up to attend the summit, said Rick Smith, executive director of the Broadbent Institute, at the event’s opening reception March 26.

From a packed Delta penthouse overlooking the Ottawa River and Parliament, Earnscliffe Strategy Group’s Robin Sears welcomed reception-goers on behalf of the firm and the Government Relations Institute of Canada.

The GRIC sponsored the Progress Summit’s opening evening, which gave guests a taste of multicultural entertainment from Toronto’s Juno-nominated Autorickshaw band, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres and a popular make-your-own poutine station that was better visited than either of the cash bars.

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, Earnscliffe’s Robin Sears and Olivia Chow at the opening reception.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

Sears quickly moved away from GR topics to put on his “favourite old hat” from his days as federal secretary for the NDP during Broadbent’s years as leader of the party.

“[Broadbent] was a man for whom politics was always about ideas as well as values … and that was rare then in politics, and it sure as hell is rare today,” Sears told summit guests.

He said political parties today are much worse at being places where ideas are incubated, instead becoming “too fixated with the machinery and with the flash” of politics and less worried about the merit of their ideas.

“As a result, a lot of people don’t play any role in political parties anymore,” said Sears, adding that he sees the Broadbent Institute, a self-declared non-partisan organization founded in 2011, as a step to recreating a new home for social democratic thinking on progressive issues in Canada.

The sold out summit aimed to bring together leading progressive thinkers, organizers and policy experts to tackle big issues in advance of this year’s election.

Other members of the GR community taking part in the event included Summa Strategies Canada’s vice-chairman Tim Powers, who was part of a summit panel discussion on “Fighting for the Frame: How Progressives Can Win Back the Debate.”

Rick Smith, Broadbent Institute executive director (left) and Autorickshaw vocalist Suba Sankaran (top) both appeared on stage in front of a packed penthouse at the Delta City Centre March 26.
Alyssa O’Dell photos.

Notable delegates speaking at event panels included Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, 2014 U.S. Democratic pollster of the year Anna Greenberg and Facebook’s head of public policy Kevin Chan.

Topics discussed ranged from manufacturing and clean energy, to Canada’s relationship with indigenous peoples and political engagement among young Canadians.

At a standing-room-only lunch roundtable on March 28, delegates discussed food as a federal election issue, touching on subjects like national food policy, food security issues in Canada’s North and challenges faced by young farmers in Canada.

Food Secure Canada, which hosted the lunch featuring healthy veggie and cheese snacks from local farmers, is launching a new campaign to ask the federal government for a $1-billion investment for a Universal Healthy School Food Program, according to Diana Bronson, executive director of the advocacy group.

For young farmers, concern at the roundtable focused on difficulties accessing land and start-up capital.

“Farmers are getting older,” said Genevieve Grossenbacher, co-owner of a small-scale organic farm in Buckingham, Que.

She said the average age of farmers in Canada is 54, and that younger farmers are often discouraged from joining the sector because of high costs for land and difficulty acquiring funding to start operations.

Diana Bronson, executive director of Food Secure Canada (right), and small-hold farmer Genevieve Grossenbacher (left) at a March 28 roundtable on food as an election issue.
Alyssa O’Dell photos.

Grossenbacher, who led discussion among young farmers at the event, is also program manager for community and volunteer engagement at USC Canada, an organization that promotes international development through ecological agriculture.

When asked about the issue of access to labour, young farmers around the table agreed it was a significant concern.

With other members of Canada’s agriculture sector saying a declining low-skilled workforce in Canada and recent changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program are causing issues in the industry, Grossenbacher said young farmers making low incomes are sometimes forced to pay themselves less than labourers in order to attract workers during their first few years of production.

She added that changes to the government’s student employment grant program, which currently doesn’t fit within the farming season, could go a long way to bridging this gap.

It was a packed house of policy makers, lobbyists and media that filled the softly lit National Arts Centre lobby Tuesday to get their fill of traditional Inuit food and entertainment at the fifth annual A Taste of the Arctic event.

An ice sculpture greeted guests at the event, hosted each year by the Inuit association ITK.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

The evening is put on each year by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, an advocacy group working to promote the environmental, social, cultural, health and political interests of Canada’s nearly 60,000 Inuit. Formed in 1971, the group aims to bring a piece Arctic culture to Ottawa.

This year NAC executive chef John Morris offered up a number of unique and modern dishes made with Arctic-sourced ingredients like muskox, buttery smoked Arctic char, caribou two ways and, for the first time, maktaaq chicharrón, a deep fried beluga skin crackling served with spicy vinegar dipping sauce.

Left, whale skin crackling, known as maktaaq chicharrón, was a popular sampling at this year’s A Taste of the Arctic. Pipsi, top right, a dried Arctic char dish served with a caper and fennel slaw, was also on offer. A twist on the southern classic jambalaya included seal sausage, Arctic clams, seared seal and smoked paprika scented rice, bottom right.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

Traditionally, maktaaq is eaten fresh, but as in previous years NAC chef John Morris adapted dishes to appeal to less Arctic-experienced Ottawa tastebuds.

“This is Canadian cuisine at its finest,” ITK president Terry Audla told attendees, adding that the event was an opportunity to get an introduction to how Canada’s Inuit have survived for hundreds of years.

“Inuit culture is not exotic, it’s Canadian culture,” he said.

Arctic shrimp on offer at the A Taste of the Arctic event.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

Audla used the opportunity to publicly address comments made by Hockey Night in Canada personality Don Cherry in February criticizing his broadcasting partner, Ron MacLean, for eating a seal burger.

Cherry joked that MacLean ate a “little baby seal” and asked, “What are you, a savage, a barbarian?” He later apologized over social media.

“Eating a seal burger in Canada should not be controversial,” said Audla.

Shortly after Cherry’s comments Audla told CTV News that without seal as part of Inuit diet, Canada’s Arctic might face third world situations today.

Also in February, the European Commission announced it plans to toughen a ban on commercial seal hunt products. Canada lost a World Trade Organization challenge last May to appeal the EU ban on skins, furs and other seal products put in place over animal welfare concerns. 

Inuit singer-songwriter Elisapie Isaac delighted guests again this year with her signature eloquant and soulful organic pop music. She hails from Salluit, in northern Arctic Quebec.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

The packed house made for an excellent opportunity for Ottawa regulars to mingle with some of Canada’s northern leaders while entertainers like Geronimo Inutiq, better known as DJ Mad Eskimo, spun a lively mix of traditional Inuit and modern electronic music.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Peter MacKay made a brief appearance with his son to check out a muskox display put on by the Museum of Nature.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay was spotted chatting with ITK president Terry Audla at the event.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

Attendees from the GR sector included Environics Communications consultant Alex Bushell, who said he particularly enjoyed the mini muskox burger that was served topped with a sesame-soya mayo.

Environics helped coordinate parts of the ITK event, and VP of government relations Greg MacEachern also made an appearance later in the evening after attending the Canadian Water Network Parliamentary Reception at the Westin Ottawa hotel.

Hill Times reporter Rachel Aiello, left, compares evening tasting notes with Environics consultant Alex Bushell, left.    Alyssa O’Dell photo.

Other hits at the evening were the tender and lightly-seasoned carved caribou hip, served with a Sakatoon berry jus and sunchoke purée, and canapés that included nikku, dried caribou, and a selection of fresh Arctic seafood.

A bar serving crêpes à la minute with a tart chokecherry chutney, Labrador tea chantilly cream and salted caramel sauce was also busy throughout the evening.

Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada president Duane Smith, left, and ICC international chair Okalik Eegeesiak, right, are members of ITK board of directors who were busy mingling at the NAC.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

NAC chefs man the caribou hip carving station at the March 10 A Taste of the Arctic event.
Alyssa O’Dell photo.

Words and photos by Lobby Monitor reporter Alyssa O’Dell.

The Manning Networking Conference has been dubbed—aptly or not—”Like Woodstock for Canadian Conservatives” by Global’s chief political correspondent Tom Clark.

The weekend-long conference kicked off Thursday evening with a reception at the Shaw Centre that was a little less outdoor hippie music festival and a little more of what you’d expect from a formal cocktail party.

Preston Manning, president of the Manning Centre, the Conservative think-tank that organizes the annual conference, told The Lobby Monitor that there is a lot on offer for lobbyists and GR professionals this year.

“It is a networking conference so it is a real opportunity to meet a lot of people throughout the Conservative movement,” Manning said.

“And we’re also trying to deal with futuristic ideas—not where’s the movement been, but where is it heading—so government relations people are trying to look ahead at what are the issues going to be, who is the spokesperson for those issues, and what’s the Conservative response to them,” he said.

The large Trillium ballroom began to fill up around 7:30 p.m. and The Lobby Monitor spotted Tory cabinet ministers Jason Kenney and Tony Clement in the crowd, chatting away with attendees. Selfie enthusiast Clement even posted a selfie montage on Instagram late Thursday night.

Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources Kelly Block was in attendance with her husband, Milton Block.

Tory MP Kelly Block (right) and husband Milton Block (left)

Not surprisingly, Laureen Harper made an appearance to give a brief speech to the crowd who moved up and assembled near the stage to hear her speak. She has attended and spoken at the conference in years past.

She discussed new legislation the Conservative government plans to introduce next week on life sentences without parole and she took the opportunity to thank Conservative supporters.

“In politics praise always comes in the absence of criticism,” Ms. Harper said.

Laureen Harper prepares to address the crowd (left) alongside Preston Manning, president and CEO of the Manning Centre (right)

The cash bar continued to be busy throughout the night as the drinks flowed and the appetizers of shrimp, spring rolls, and other tasty goods rolled out from the kitchen.

The Lobby Monitor spotted many consultant and in-house lobbyists in the crowd, including some folks from National Public Relations.

National Public Relations consultant Joseph Finkle (left), associate Stephanie Mitton (centre) and consultant Mathew Klie-Cribb (right)

Recent addition at The Lobby Monitor, reporter Alyssa O’Dell, was found chatting with Amy Day, who joined the PMO’s issues management team as assistant to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Conservative MP Paul Calandra. Both hailing from Vancouver, the two bonded over a mutual longer for warming weather.

Global Public Affairs senior research consultant Michael Dietrich also joined the conversation and discussed his dissertation on research and innovation. Dietrich is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Western Ontario.

PMO staffer Amy Day (left) and Global Public Affairs consultant Michael Dietrich (right)

Spotted close to the stage was Merit Canada president Terrance Oakey chatting with Catherine Swift, spokesperson for Working Canadians.

Catherine Swift of Working Canadians (left) and Terrance Oakey, president of Merit Canada (right)

Others government relations professionals spotted include Michele Austin, former chief of staff to Tory cabinet ministers Rona Ambrose and Maxime Bernier and now senior advisor at Summa Strategies, who is speaking on a panel on “Women in Politics” on Saturday, and Impact Public Affairs president Huw Williams, who is a longtime Conservative supporter and former staffer.

And before the night was through, The Lobby Monitor did spot a Liberal amongst the Conservative MPs, staffers and supporters in the crowd. Greg MacEachern, vice-president of government relations at Environics Communications was spotted next to former Kenney staffer and Ontario PC candidate Jamie Ellerton, who is now principal at Conaptus Ltd. MacEachern was a Liberal staffer in Halifax before working on the Hill for federal Liberal cabinet ministers.

Former Conservative staffer Jamie Ellerton (left) with Greg MacEachern, VP of government relations at Environics Communications (right)

The conference runs through the weekend. More information is available online.