2018 ms society of canada day on the hill training webinar€¦ · 100 elgin street, ottawa, on k1p...

2018 MS Society of Canada Day on the Hill

Training WebinarApril 18, 2018

#LifeWithMS | #vivreaveclaSP

Agenda

Part 1: Overview: Day on Hill Logistics

Part 2: Earnscliffe: Political Context

Part 3: Earnscliffe: Effective Advocacy and Meetings

Part 4: MS Society Recommendations


Part 1: Overview: Day on Hill Logistics


Day on the Hill Participant Website

Website

https://mssociety.ca/get-involved/day-on-the-hill

https://mssociety.ca/get-involved/day-on-the-hill


Hotel – Lord Elgin

100 Elgin Street, Ottawa, ON

K1P 5K8Tel: (613) 235-3333Toll Free:

1-800-267-4298


Hotel – Lord Elgin

Lady Elgin


2018 Day on the Hill Timeline

Date/Time Event

Sunday, April 29 – 6:30 pm MSSC Welcome Reception

Monday, April 30 - 7:30 am Breakfast

Monday, April 30 – 8:30 a.m. MSSC National GR Committee Meeting

Monday, April 30 –10 am onwards Parliamentarian Meetings

Monday, April 30 – 5:00 p.m.(Actual start time 5:30 pm)

MSSC Parliamentary Reception at Centre Block- Senate Banking Room

Tuesday, May 1 – 7:30 am Breakfast

Tuesday, May 1 – Thru Day Parliamentarian Meetings

Wednesday, May 2 – 9:00 am Executive Meetings (Confederation Room) (MSSC Exec Staff)

Wednesday, May 2 – 12:30 pm Carnation Pinning (Invited Participants only


Parliamentary Meetings

Meeting Schedules• Kelsie Spurvey – Meeting Coordinator

• Posted on Day on Hill Website

• Printed Schedules (as of Thursday, April 26)

Biographies• Posted on Day on Hill Website

• Printed bios by request only ([email protected] by Mon. April 23)

mailto:[email protected]



Locations• Posted on Day on Hill Website

Security• Will require valid government issue Photo ID

• Plan time to go through as wait times vary

Meeting Reports• Online: Survey monkey for each meeting

• Printed reports available by request



Meeting Collateral• MS Society Leave Behind

• Conference Board of Canada Report

• Talking Points (Internal)


2018 Day on the Hill Communications

News Releases | Media Advisory• MS Society News Release – Thursday, April 26

• Carnation Pinning Media Advisory – Monday, April 30

• Conference Board of Canada News Release – Wednesday, May 2

Social Media• Jennifer Asselin, Manager, Public Relations and Communications

(Ottawa)

• Mari Satoh, Coordinator, Social Media and Content (Toronto) – e:[email protected] p: 416-937-4470

• MS Society Reps Roles

mailto:[email protected]


Social Media


Posters


MS Awareness Month Reception


Reception Notes

• Ask that MSSC guests arrive between 4:30 pm-5:00 pm

• There will be a MS Society rep at security with the guest list

• Food, Wine, Pop, Juice, Coffee/Tea

• Every guest requires valid government issue Photo ID.

• Guests will be required to go through security scanning stations: wait times vary

• Short Program: Approx. 6:30 p.m.

• Focus: Accelerating MS Research


Carnation Pinning

Wednesday, May 2

House of Commons


Part 2: Earnscliffe: Political Context

April/May 2018

Briefing to the MS Society

18

Federal Political Overview 2018

Political Overview

• We are now past the midway point in this government’s mandate, meaning there has been a shift away from promises and goal-setting toward delivery and implementation.

• The next federal election will be held in October 2019 – after this coming summer, Ottawa will be in pre-campaign mode

• All Opposition leaders are new (compared to our last Day on the Hill, and compared to the last election), meaning a very different dynamic between parties/leaders in the next election. This will also extend to pre-positioning environment

• All parties are positioning themselves as the voice of the “middle class”, and “helping regular folks” – and this has a direct bearing on the policy environment

• Healthcare expected to be a policy battleground in the leadup to the next election, judging by the tone of the recent NDP policy convention – and it will be difficult for the Liberals to “out-left” the NDP again as they did in 2015

• Historically in federal politics, majority governments get a second term. Moreover, when change occurs, opposition parties do not win elections – governments lose them

Hot FilesOverall policy/political narrative continues to centre on middle class, women and girls, Indigenous issues

Strong ongoing theme of lessening income disparity to promote economic and social stability

Major ongoing issues:

• NAFTA negotiations: After a rough start, some new hope of a general agreement-in-principle this spring. Detailed negotiations could be suspended for the duration of the Mexican elections (in July) and through the U.S. midterms (in November). A growing sense that Trump wants to clear the decks of NAFTA politics to focus on the brewing China trade war.

• Kinder-Morgan: The BC-Alberta fight remains a major challenge for the PM, and approaching political crisis level. Alberta accepted the federal carbon pricing policy on condition that the pipeline would be built; now Alberta expects that promise to be kept. A green-dependent coalition NDP government in BC sees no room for compromise. Also a test of leadership for the PM.

• Cannabis Legislation: The legislation is now in the Senate, where they placed a hold of the study of C-46 until they begin to study C-45. The government has indicated that the effective date is likely to be later in the fall of 2018.

• Indigenous Files: The government faces mounting criticism that progress on its many Indigenous commitments is moving too slowly. The PM’s commitment to create an Indigenous Rights Framework is a signal to the system that it must work more quickly

• Environmental Legislation: An omnibus redesign of impact legislation and regulatory approval of new energy projects. Separately, a bill focusing on marine conservation

• Disability legislation: expected in the near term – important themes are said to include accessibility and employment (in particular, under-employment linked to disability and access issues)

• This summer: Likely timeframe for Cabinet shuffle and potentially a new Throne Speech going into the fall. The 2018 G7 summit will be held in Charlevoix, Quebec in June.

Polling DataThe political landscape has become more competitive over the past year, with the Liberal Party’s support looking more vulnerable in recent weeks.

• Recent data has shown Liberal vote intention has slipped• Abacus: 36%• Nanos: 39%• Ipsos: 31%

• CPC support had been fairly consistent, and strengthening • Abacus: 33%• Nanos: 34%• Ipsos: 38%

• The NDP continue to struggle to break the 20% mark in vote intention• Abacus: 18%• Nanos: 16%• Ipsos: 23%

Justin Trudeau’s personal approval ratings have softened, though he remains more popular than his adversaries.

Canadians still do not know much about Scheer or Singh, so their approval rating has not really changed. Things are likely to shake up more once voters are further acquainted with the candidates.

Budget 2018• 2017 saw robust economic growth of 3.0%, leading the G-7 nations and posting the strongest job

growth in 40 years

• Budget 2018 forecasts a more sluggish over the next five years, at just over 2% this year, then averaging 1.7% over the next four years

• Still, the government was in a stronger fiscal position going into the budget, with greater leeway for spending due to higher revenues last year than originally forecast

• $20.5 billion in new spending announced over the planning horizon

• Although there is no articulated path to budget balance, the government is maintaining a diminishing deficit track over the next five years

• Finance Minister Morneau has still maintained progress on the reducing debt-to-GDP ratio, even as deficits continue. Debt-to-GDP has become his primary measure of interest

• The deficit drops from $18.1 billion in fiscal 2018/19 to $12.3 billion in 2022/23. Those estimates include a $3 billion contingency fund for each of the next five fiscal years

• This fiscal year 2017-18 public debt charges will total $24.4 billion; they will rise to $33.1 billion annually by 2022-23. By that time, total federal debt will reach a record high of $730.1 billion

• As a function of GDP, program expenses fall from 14.0% to 13.6% over the planning horizon

• Major risk factors include the ongoing NAFTA talks, which continue to be difficult, and the potential impact of the Trump Administration’s tax cut package on Canada’s economy

Polling DataThe political landscape has become more competitive over the past year, with the Liberal Party’s support looking more vulnerable in recent weeks.

• Recent data has shown Liberal vote intention has slipped• Abacus: 36%• Nanos: 39%• Ipsos: 31%

• CPC support had been fairly consistent, and strengthening • Abacus: 33%• Nanos: 34%• Ipsos: 38%

• The NDP continue to struggle to break the 20% mark in vote intention• Abacus: 18%• Nanos: 16%• Ipsos: 23%

Justin Trudeau’s personal approval ratings have softened, though he remains more popular than his adversaries.

Canadians still do not know much about Scheer or Singh, so their approval rating has not really changed. Things are likely to shake up more once voters are further acquainted with the candidates.

Budget 2018• 2017 saw robust economic growth of 3.0%, leading the G-7 nations and posting the strongest job

growth in 40 years

• Budget 2018 forecasts a more sluggish over the next five years, at just over 2% this year, then averaging 1.7% over the next four years

• Still, the government was in a stronger fiscal position going into the budget, with greater leeway for spending due to higher revenues last year than originally forecast

• $20.5 billion in new spending announced over the planning horizon

• Although there is no articulated path to budget balance, the government is maintaining a diminishing deficit track over the next five years

• Finance Minister Morneau has still maintained progress on the reducing debt-to-GDP ratio, even as deficits continue. Debt-to-GDP has become his primary measure of interest

• The deficit drops from $18.1 billion in fiscal 2018/19 to $12.3 billion in 2022/23. Those estimates include a $3 billion contingency fund for each of the next five fiscal years

• This fiscal year 2017-18 public debt charges will total $24.4 billion; they will rise to $33.1 billion annually by 2022-23. By that time, total federal debt will reach a record high of $730.1 billion

• As a function of GDP, program expenses fall from 14.0% to 13.6% over the planning horizon

• Major risk factors include the ongoing NAFTA talks, which continue to be difficult, and the potential impact of the Trump Administration’s tax cut package on Canada’s economy

Budget 2018 - Political ObjectivesMinister Morneau was aware of the pressure on the Trudeau government to keep delivering on its 364 campaign promises from 2015. By and large, this was a “steady as she goes” effort designed to accomplish the following political objectives:

✓ Checking off more platform boxes

✓ Delivering on the Naylor Report with investments in foundational science and granting councils while streamlining business facing innovation programming

✓ Expanding the government’s progressive narrative on gender equality

✓ Making a substantial down-payment on the foundations of reconciliation

✓ Maintaining fiscal continuity without dramatic spending increases or cuts (or providing a path to balance), while holding firm on the debt-to-GDP anchor

✓ Seeking to put an end to the tax reform controversy

✓ Targeting progressive demographics interested in pharmacare, gender, environment and next generation technologies in preparation for the 2019 budget and election

✓ Walking away from the Phoenix pay system to placate its seething public service

Budget 2018 – Overall Highlights

As predicted, the main themes of Budget 2018 were research and development, science, indigenous reconciliation, and women and girls.

• R&D, Innovation and Commercialization: To better support Canada’s innovators, Budget 2018 proposes to provide $2.6 billion in incremental support over five years.

• Science and Research: On science funding, this budget delivered, with a $4 billion investment over five years.

• Indigenous: Committing almost $5 billion over five years, the Government of Canada ambitiously declared its Indigenous Budget chapter: “Reconciliation.”

• Gender Equality: The budget dedicates spending for numerous initiatives, such as programs for women entrepreneurs, women in STEM, women in Red Seal trades, women and girls in sport, and new pay equity legislation expected this year.

• Regarding parental leave, Budget 2018 introduces a new EI Parental Sharing Benefit

• Status of Women becomes a full government department

• All decisions pertaining to Budget 2018 were informed by Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+); legislation coming to institutionalize this practice

Budget 2018 – Of Particular Interest

• Pharmacare: Appointment of an Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare. Headed by Eric Hoskins, it will conduct an economic and social assessment of models, and will recommend options to the ministers of Health and Finance.

• Drug costs: More collaboration with provinces and territories through the panCanadianPharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) to negotiate collectively to achieve lower drug costs to the system.

• Working While on Claim: Making permanent the EI Working While on Claim pilot project, which allows claimants to keep 50 cents of their EI benefits for every dollar they earn, up to a maximum of 90 per cent of the weekly insurable earnings used to calculate their EI benefit amount. Also grandfathering for three years claimants who have chosen, under the current pilot project, to revert to more flexible rules of a previous pilot project introduced in 2005.

• Caregivers: Re-announces the 2017 Employment Insurance (EI) caregiving benefit that allows eligible caregivers to claim up to 15 weeks of EI benefits while they are temporarily away from work to support or care for a critically ill or injured family member, as well as the Refundable Medical Expense Supplement which offsets the loss of coverage for medical and disability-related expenses when individuals move from social assistance into the paid labour force.

• Canada Workers Benefit: renaming the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB), and adding resources and flexibility to make it more generous and more accessible. Effective 2019. Maximum benefits will be increased by up to $170 in 2019, and the income threshold will be increased toward a complete phase-out. Also, an increase by an additional $160 to the maximum benefit CWB disability supplement to offer greater support to Canadians with disabilities who face financial barriers to entering the workforce.

Science and Research• Budget 2017 was silent on science and research, the argument being that the

government was waiting for the Naylor Report (“Investing in Canada’s Future: Strengthening the Foundations of Canadian Research”) to be released

• On science funding, this budget delivered, with a $4 billion investment over five years. Highlights in this envelope include:

• Funding for the Canada Foundation for Innovation of $763 million, and permanent ongoing annual funding of $462 million by 2023-24, including $160 million for the Major Science Initiatives (MSI) Fund.

• Funding of approximately $1.5 billion directed toward the granting councils.

• $139 million over five years to federal laboratories and other federal assets to advance science, research and innovation.

• $572.5 million over five years with $52 million per year ongoing to implement a Digital Research Infrastructure Strategy that will deliver more open and equitable access to advanced computing and big data resources to researchers across Canada.

External Review of Pan-Canadian Health Organizations

• In October, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor convened an external review by independent expert advisors Drs. Pierre-Gerlier Forest and Danielle Martin, who presented their advice to the minister in March 2018

• Included input from PCHOs, National Indigenous Organization reps, industry leaders, academic experts, other stakeholders, and senior government officials from all parts of the country. Also reflected findings from the latest literature related to the review's subject matter and the results of commissioned research

• 10 recommendations released in the report that – if implemented – would result in an overhaul of these organizations, leaving a smaller number of larger bodies better designed to meet the needs of 21st century health systems.

• Presented different plausible scenarios for change, each combining three core elements:

• A strong national drug agency to provide the necessary machinery to support universal pharmacare in Canada and stand up to the important global trends around drug pricing, innovation and appropriate use of prescription medicines

• A strong data and technology agency that would help collect and link information, feeding it back to patients and the people who deliver care to them so health care can learn and improve

• A “signature” agency, one that would embody the value the government wishes to pursue most aggressively – be it efficiency, innovation, engagement or equity


Part 3: Earnscliffe: Effective Advocacy and Meetings

YOUR JOB

• When coming to Ottawa to speak on behalf of the MS Society, you have one job and one job alone:

‒ To deliver your message

• You are not there to talk about what they want to talk about – you are there to effectively convey what you came to convey

– Regardless of format

– Regardless of timing

– Regardless of audience

EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

• A “meeting” with a public office holder can come in many shapes and sizes

‒ Formal, arranged briefing in an official’s office‒ Chance encounter in an elevator or supermarket queue‒ Chat at a reception‒ Telephone conversation

• The same principles apply, regardless of format

• Key, overriding imperatives:

‒ Know your stuff‒ Know your audience‒ Deliver your message‒ “Situational Awareness”‒ Align your message to their priorities

KNOW YOUR STUFF

• This means you have to know your stuff.

• It is critical you thoroughly familiarize yourself with your own material and message

‒ Review your material before you go in to the meeting

‒ Know it!

‒ Remember your key points. Memorize them.

‒ Be in a position to not have to rely on your notes and leave-behinds

‒ This leaves you free to focus attention on the other person in the meeting and

listen carefully to what they have to say. You’re there to learn, too.

‒ You will also speak more naturally and fluidly when you are speaking, and not

reciting or citing

YOU ALL HAVE TO BE ON THE SAME PAGE

• Stakeholders fail when they governments don’t know exactly what they want.

• When different people deliver different messages, government won’t know exactly what you want.

• This means several things:

‒ Leave your pet issues or local needs at home when you come to Ottawa to speak on behalf of your local chapter

‒ Your regional experiences provide colourand context. They humanize the message. But they cannot replace the message.

• A consistent message is critical, regardless of who is delivering it – this is particularlyimportant with associations that have a disparate membership base

For two days, you’re all singing off the same songsheet!

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

• Before you go into the meeting, assess the kind of person you’re talking to

• Assess who your audience is• MP or departmental official?

• Senator or staffer?

• Elected or not?

• Rural or urban?

• Backbencher or internal thought leader?

• Geographical or targeted policy-area concerns?

• What drives the person with whom you are meeting?

• They all operate under different imperatives

• Their role dictates their predispositions and likelier areas of interest

• Find a way to be directly relevant to them

CONTEXT AND ALIGNMENT

• Understand the government’s broader economic context and policy agenda:

‒ Policy backdrop (i.e. Throne Speech, mandate letters, Budget, etc.)‒ Budgetary/fiscal situation (how much or little available money there may be)‒ Government priorities, major initiatives‒ Where we are in the electoral cycle

• Look for points of alignment: those elements of agreement between their

concerns and priorities and the policies you are advancing

• Look for points of agreement and always provide positive acknowledgement of

recent helpful steps

• Don’t come in with new requests or new problems. Come through the door with

solutions to their pre-determined problems.

MESSAGE ALIGNMENT

• Don’t preach or try to convince

‒ With all the demand for attention in

Ottawa, you’d be pushing a boulder

uphill

• Recap where your audience or host

is in their own thinking

‒ Commend them for taking that policy focus;

‒ Explain to them how you fit in with that agenda; and

‒ How you can help them

TIPS

1. You don’t need to have all the answers. If you don’t know, say you’ll get back to them.

‒ Gaps in data,

‒ Questions you were unable to answer

‒ Local or specific statistics you may not have known

‒ Other supporting information

TIPS

2. Follow up. Your national government relations team will follow up with drafting a template letter for each participant to thank your audience for the meeting

‒ A post-meeting thank-you goes a long way

‒ A physical card or letter can go much further than an email

‒ It’s courteous, but also serves as a reminder of you, your issues, and your positions … AFTER the meeting is over – to stay on their radar

‒ An opportunity to provide any additional information that was requested

TIPS

3. Situational Awareness – be aware of your environment

– Who are they? Where are the from?

– What makes them tick?

– How are you relevant to them?

– What’s their agenda, besides the obvious?

– How can you help them?

– How can you make a better personal connection?

– Keep your eyes open for cues – including meeting fatigue

TIPS

4. Manage your time

– Confirm, at the outset, how much time they have for the meeting

– Leave time for discussion; try to divide your time in half, between presentation and discussion

– In case of unexpected interruption (unscheduled votes, etc.), don’t worry.

• Just say that your coordinating team will be in touch to see if it might be possible to reschedule while the MS Society team is still in town.

• Thank them for the time you did have together, and give them the leave-behind

• Let Julie and Kelsie know ASAP

CONCLUSION

• Objective Number One is to inform your audience of your position on MS

Society issues and to deliver your “ask”

‒ Align and position your message in a way that is relevant to the official with whom you are meeting

‒ Demonstrate that you have solutions to their problems

• Objective Number Two, over the longer term, is to help position

yourselves, the MS Society, as an information source and sounding board

for in health, employment, and accessibility policy

‒ A trusted, “must-consult”, partner for government in setting policy

• Know your stuff, stay on message, always remember with whom you’re

talking, and keep your eyes open


Part 4: MS Society Recommendations


“The Hook, Line and Sinker”

Hook

•Tell Your Story & Info about MS

Line

•Background on Priority

Sinker

•Recommendations


“The Hook”

Tell Your Story and Information About MS

About Multiple Sclerosis

Symptoms

Everyone’s experience with MS is different

What causes MS?

Is there hope for a cure?


“The Hook”


Priority - Employment Security


Priority - Employment Security

The federal government should continue to help “Make Work...Work” by:

✓ Improving the coordination of and program eligibility by including episodic disability in the basic definition of disability across the income, disability, employment programs (e.g. Employment Insurance (EI) Sickness Benefit, Canada Pension Plan – Disability (CPP-D), and Disability Tax Credit (DTC))

✓ Enhancing the EI Sickness Benefit program by:• Extending the duration of EI Sickness benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks to

match compassionate care benefits• Eliminating the clawback

✓ Ensuring effective implementation of the amended federal labour code formally allowing requests for flexible work arrangements from employers. Additionally, we recommend the federal government consult with provinces and territories on the implementation of similar changes in provincially regulated sectors.


Priority – Income Security


Priority – Income Security

Federal policy should help “Make Ends Meet” by:

✓ Making disability tax credits fully refundable and increase them to put much needed income directly in the hands of low-income people with MS and other disabilities;

✓ Changing eligibility criteria (e.g. Canada Pension Plan – Disability, Disability Tax Credit) to include those individuals living with episodic disabilities to have access to public insurance and tax credit systems for those unable to work or who can only work on an intermittent basis;

✓ Harmonizing the EI sickness benefits duration of 15 weeks to match the 26 weeks duration of compassionate care benefits;

✓ Ensuring the national poverty reduction strategy includes all Canadians including those with episodic and progressive disabilities to have adequate income;


Conference Board of Canada Report


Priority – Make Access a Reality


Priority – Make Access a RealityThe federal government should help “Make Access a Reality” by:

✓ Ensuring the Accessibility Legislation includes all Canadians with disabilities whether their disabilities are visible or invisible, and whether they are permanent or episodic (periods of wellness followed by periods of disability). The definition of disability needs to include the notion of the changing dynamic of disability including episodic, which is the case for individuals living with progressive neurological diseases like MS.

✓ Ensuring timely and affordable access to all Health Canada approved treatments for MS as early intervention is vital to avoid many of the long-term economic and personal costs that result from unnecessary irreversible disability. People living with MS and their unique perspective need to be proactively involved throughout the drug review process from Health Canada to the pan Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance.

✓ Investing in comprehensive care and appropriate housing that includes:• Comprehensive home care, which focuses on the family and includes nursing and personal care, supplies

(e.g. incontinence supplies) and equipment, meal preparation, home making, child care, rehabilitation, technology (home monitoring), and meaningful respite services.

• Support for home modifications through the development of a nation-wide funding program as part of the implementation of the National Housing Strategy.

• For those unable to remain in their home, the development of and sufficient funding for age appropriate housing, care and supports needs to be created.


Priority – Accelerating Research


Priority – Accelerating ResearchThe federal government should make health research a priority by:

• Continuing the investment of fundamental research in Canada and include health charities as key partners of government, universities and private industry.

• Creating a framework for enhanced coordination among these four groups to better leverage health charity research investment with additional public and private investment dollars for research.

• Meaningfully engaging patients in setting health research policy. Federal research funding programs should be informed by the perspectives of patients, their caregivers and healthcare providers.

• Implementing research agenda priority setting approaches that include patients and health charities across granting programs. Health charities are leaders in this area and have extensive experience in using a variety of mechanisms to shape the health research agenda, including direct engagement with patients and international collaborations.


Questions


Thank You Sponsors!Lead Sponsor

Contributing Sponsors

2018 ms society of canada day on the hill training webinar€¦ · 100 elgin street, ottawa, on k1p...

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