PRESSURE GROUPS

PRESSURE GROUPS

PRESSURE GROUPS

A pressure group, also known as an interest group or lobby, is an organization formed by like-minded people who seek to influence PUBLIC POLICY to promote an interest. Pressure groups exist in all modern pluralist democracies and have sprung up on all sides. Some defend producer interests. In response, others press for consumer concerns or push for broad policies such as protection of the environment. The proliferation of some pressure groups is so extensive, their size so large and their organization so sophisticated, that they virtually constitute another arm of government.

Examples of powerful pressure groups are the business-financed Business Council on National Issues (BCNI), the CANADIAN TAX FOUNDATION, the commercial banks, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, the automobile, steel, rubber, chemical and energy industries, which act alone or through their trade associations such as the BCNI, the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE and the CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION. The BCNI is an association of chief executive officers of large Canadian corporations formed in 1977 to co-ordinate business participation in the policy-making process. The Institute of Association Executives, which in Ottawa alone has 318 members, constitutes a virtual lobby of lobbyists. Other pressure groups, such as Executive Consultants Ltd and Government Policy Consultants Inc, comprise former politicians, ex-public servants, and advertising and public relations specialists, who sell their services for a fee.

Lobbying by pressure groups can take the form of a mass-media campaign or paid advertisements which oppose or support a particular policy, informal meetings with senior bureaucrats, or the presentation of a brief to a parliamentary committee. Lobbying in Canada, however, has been described as "keeping things pleasant, dull and controlled" and is usually characterized by private, informal meetings with influential advisers and Cabinet ministers. The closeness of these lobbyists to the politicians and bureaucrats sometimes results in charges of CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

Some pressure groups are much more powerful and more successful than others. Successful pressure groups are almost always well financed, cohesive and stable, and their leaders, many of whom are former politicians, tend to represent causes which are favourably regarded by politicians and civil servants. In other words, they facilitate the process by which leaders of the ruling party and senior bureaucrats work out their policy arrangements with the business community, the professions and other organized interests in society. They usually maintain permanent offices near the capital and their leaders frequent important clubs and associations.

The less successful groups are generally poorly financed, are led by people remote from the elite groups and advocate causes not generally favoured by the leading political parties. They are often organized around a single issue, or appear suddenly on the scene to protest a particular policy proposal. Others soldier on for years, defending small or lost causes. The losers simply lack the means to succeed. Unlike the elite leaders, they cannot command the ear of Cabinet ministers at will or project an air of legitimacy. While well-financed pressure groups establish personal contact within the government, contact leading ...