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6. The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE)
Introduction
While the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) in itself it is not a governance model focused on a local region like the GVRD and FBC, it has had an important influence on how the public and various stakeholders have been involved in urban sustainability-related decision-making processes in Canada. As a non-traditional consensus-based approach, it holds important lessons for cities and national governments wishing to pursue "participatory multi-sectoral" approaches to urban issues. This section will first present a brief history on how and why the NRTEE was created. Then, criteria drawn from Innes and Booher for evaluating consensus-building processes will be used to assess the NRTEE. This section will conclude with a brief discussion of the contributions the NRTEE has made to decision-making and governance for urban sustainability in Canada.
Canada has provided numerous examples of practices that increase sustainability. In 1986, in advance of a visit by the U.N. Commission on Environment and Development (or Brundtland Commission), the Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers established a National Task Force on Environment and Economy. Its task was to address the matter of reconciling public conflicts between Canada's natural resource industries – primarily from the mining, forestry and petroleum sectors – and those groups and individuals interested in protecting the environment. The Task Force developed 40 recommendations to encourage industry and governments to incorporate both environmental and economic considerations into their decision-making. One of the recommendations was the establishment of Round Tables on the Environment and Economy (RTEE) at both the provincial and federal levels. Membership at the Round Tables would be drawn from government, large and small industry, environmental organizations, labour, academia, and aboriginal people. Round Tables were intended to provide a forum where senior decision-makers could meet to candidly discuss environment-economy issues and make recommendations directly to the Prime Minister and Premiers of their respective jurisdictions and also report their conclusions to the public.
The Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers endorsed the recommendation to create Round Tables and in October 1988, Prime Minister Mulroney announced the creation of a National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) chaired by Dr. David Johnston, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University. At the same time, its first Executive Director and Director of Operations were appointed, ii and a small planning committee was put into place to develop its institutional infrastructure and mode of operation. In March 1989, the Prime Minister announced the full NRTEE membership. By 1990 all of the provinces and territories had established Round Tables and hundreds of local and regional governments across Canada also established Round Tables.
Instead of following the more traditional institutional model of bringing together individuals or businesses that have common interests or goals, Round Tables are multipartite and reflect different backgrounds and experiences, different perspectives and insights, different values and beliefs. In a sense they are microcosms of society itself with membership that draw from the political level of governments, the corporate sector, academe and research institutes, the scientific community, and a variety of public interest and professional groups. 62
Ann Dale, "Multistakeholder Processes: Panacea or Window Dressing,"
While in Canada, round tables have been convened by governments at all levels and other organizations, they differ from traditional forms of government decision-making in that a Round Table is non-hierarchical. They are multi-stakeholder forums where decisions often follow a consensus decision-making process.
Round Tables were not designed to have legislative authority or function as government decision-making bodies. Their principal role is to exert influence founded on their credibility, independence, and ability to foster an exchange of views amongst important sectors and levels of society.63"Through their members and their respective spheres of influence, they act as catalysts to forge new strategic partnerships, to stimulate the search for viable solutions, and to build a broad consensus on what must change, who should bear the costs, and how and when those costs should be borne."64
The original planning for the NRTEE was conducted by a small but highly influential group of individuals. Dr. Johnston led the organizing committee, which included Dave Buzelli, President and CEO of Dow Chemical; Roy Aitken, Vice-President of INCO; Pierre-Marc Johnson, former Premier of Quebec; Susan Holtz, an environmental activist and former head of the Canadian Ecology Action Centre; Judge Barry Stuart, a leader in aboriginal sentencing circles; Jim MacNeill, former Secretary General for the Brundtland Commission; Dr. Richardson, Executive Director and Ann Dale, Director of Operations.65
The Canadian Council for Ministers of the Environment recommended that the NRTEE membership should have a representative from each province and territory, and representatives from traditional sectors, such as the forestry association, mining association, and other such bodies. However, the planning committee decided to take a very different approach. They limited the membership to 25, and rather than selecting people on the basis of the groups, associations or industries they represented, they chose to identify key decision-makers who could influence important networks in government, business and civil society.66
The committee also looked at what linkages needed to be made for the Round Table to have the most impact. To this end, four broad categories for membership were identified: government, business, strategic public policy, and environmentalists. In addition, the committee took into account balancing regional sensitivities, gender, labour issues, First Nations, and the two official languages. This was an important departure from the normal appointment process at the national level where individuals were usually selected on the basis of their political affiliation, their national profile, their sectoral or regional status, and/ or affiliation with a particular industry. 67 The final membership included 4 senior cabinet Ministers and one Provincial Minister, CEOs and Vice Presidents of major corporations, academics, and representatives from First Nations, labour and community groups.
To further demarcate the NRTEE from traditional decision-making bodies, the planning committee agreed to leave the Round Table process as unstructured as possible in order to let the members determine their own agenda, their mode of operating and reach their own conclusions. This model would allow members to set their priorities and future course of action. 68
During the first year of operations, the NRTEE meetings were restricted to members only. The reasoning for this, on the part of the original planners, was that with the full participation of four federal cabinet ministers (Minister of the Environment, Minister of Finance, Minister of Science and Technology Canada, and the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources), meaningful results could only be achieved if the Round Table was a "dialogue of peers." Issues discussed had to meet the following criteria: be strategic rather than operational; be multipartite and cross-disciplinary; inter-jurisdictional or interdepartmental; longer-term; focused on means not ends; and of federal, national or international scope as these were the types of issues that would best address the scope of sustainable development. 69 From the beginning the recommendations made by the NRTEE were presented directly to the Prime Minister in a yearly meeting between the Chair and the Prime Minister. The use of consensus decision-making was important for developing the recommendations, but points of disagreement were also noted and communicated.
The essential difference between a consensus based decision-making process and other processes is that "these [other] processes are intended to advise decision makers providing them with a diversity of opinions and advice. In contrast, consensus processes are designed to find the common ground and a mutually acceptable decision that can be implemented or recommended for implementation." 70
The Forest Round Table convened by the NRTEE between 1991 and 1994 is an example of a successful "sub-table". Representatives from 25 stakeholder groups developed, by consensus, a common vision and a set of principles for sustainable development of Canada's forests. These principles included action plans by the stakeholder groups on how these principles would be implemented, and were supplemented with recommendations to governments and other jurisdictions with regard to policies and actions for sustainable development. 71
The Round Table originally was able to engage key Canadian decision-makers including four Federal Ministers. This however gradually changed when intense lobbying to open the meeting process succeeded. Ministers became increasingly more uncomfortable with this open dialogue. 72 Worried about confidentiality and a conflict of interest, at first Ministers elected not to attend and then, by 1994, they were intentionally left out of the process. 73 Having Ministers as members of a Round Table was deemed inconsistent with Canadian political tradition where the recommendations would ultimately come back to them. Ultimately this was considered to be a conflict of interest. 74
In 1993, the NRTEE was legislated by Parliament. The act governing the Round Table states that the round table members are appointed by the Governor in Council (Prime Minister). Although there is no mention of to whom the NRTEE reports, it has continued to report to the Prime Minister. The legislation established the Round Table as a Departmental Corporation, making it an independent entity with legal security . With federal government ministers no longer at the Table, the Round Table has changed in form significantly since its inception.
The 1993 NRTEE Act states that the purpose of the Round Table is: "to play the role of catalyst in identifying, explaining and promoting, in all sectors of Canadian society and in all regions of Canada, principles and practices of sustainable development by:
- undertaking research and gathering information and analyses on critical issues of sustainable development;
- advising governments on ways of integrating environmental and economic considerations into their decision-making processes and on global issues of sustainable development;
- advising those sectors and regions on ways of incorporating principles and practices of sustainable development into their activities;
- promoting the understanding and increasing public awareness of the cultural, social, economic and policy changes required to attain sustainable development; and
- facilitating and assisting cooperative efforts in Canada to overcome barriers to the attainment of sustainable development." 75
According to the NRTEE web site, "The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) is an independent advisory body that provides decision makers, opinion leaders and the Canadian public with advice and recommendations for promoting sustainable development." 76 Noting the early history, one can conclude that in its 16 year history, the NRTEE has slowly transformed itself from a "Round Table" to a more traditional government advisory body (see Appendix B: NRTEE Organizational Chart for the current structure of the Table).
This shift is important when one compares the fate of the National Round Table and the Provincial Tables, all of which have been abolished or marginalized. iii Three factors seemed to have led to the demise of the other tables: 1) they did not enjoy legislated status and thus served at the pleasure of the sitting government; 2) because they reported to the Premiers, they often were eliminated or put aside when a new government came to power; and 3) many were mandated to prepare a sustainable development strategy. When that was completed, they did not have other roles to play. For the NRTEE and for Canada, it was certainly better that it became a respected advisory board than ceasing to exist.
ii. Dr. Dorothy Richardson and Ann Dale
iii. One of the strongest Provincial Round Tables in Manitoba did have legal status and continues to exist but following a change of government it is now a mere shadow of its former self.