The events surrounding the Keystone and the Northern Gateway pipelines point to the emergence of social licence as a key business consideration.

When evaluating large scale development projects, decision-makers focused on the economic and regulatory aspects of the project. If both of these conditions could be satisfied, project leaders would feel confident with the decision to proceed.

Social licence – people consenting to a project in their community – has emerged from the regulatory shadow to become the third leg in decision-making on large scale infrastructure and energy projects.

The concept of social licence is not new. Municipalities have a lot of experience in this field as do natural resource companies. Yet, what was once a secondary consideration has become a primary consideration.

Why is social licence evolving?

The evolution of social licence is a function of the convergence of social, technological and political forces overtaking mature democratic societies.

1. Our concept of community has evolved

People accept the environment as something beyond borders or jurisdictional limitations. In many respects, we are all astronauts looking down at the earth and seeing it as one. When you add the Internet and the social network to the mix, community has moved beyond the purely local/regional to include national and even international.
Securing social licence once meant working with the local communities, often indigenous, to get approval to proceed. With today’s massive energy projects, organizations seeking social licence must now engage on a mass level. Keystone’s community is North-American. Northern Gateway’s is international.

2. Web 2.0 makes it easy for people to learn, organize and mobilize

People concerned about an issue or a project have access to low-cost or no-cost social networking tools that make it easy for them to find and join like-minded groups. There are over 600+ million Facebook users and Canada is number 10 on the Facebook users by country list. If you Google “Northern Gateway Pipeline” today, you’ll find “Pipe Up Against Enbridge” on the first results page. Canadians are connected and they know how to mobilize digitally.

Decision-makers who fail to understand the web 2.0 dynamic will find themselves facing an army of David’s with web 2.0 sling shots. “Spin”, the Goliath of public relations, is no match for the social web.

3. Our public processes don’t connect with popular expectations

Our current public consultation processes are based on public meetings and submitting letters. These processes have failed to adapt to people’s expectations around communications in the web 2.0 world. The websites that do offer consultations are seldom user friendly, often constrained by the imperatives of a corporate “common look and feel” and fail to offer the opportunity for authentic and open dialogue. In today’s communications environment, when concerned citizens and organizations come up against antiquated and poorly designed public engagement processes, they can easily set up their own.

4. Our regulatory processes have become lightning rods for public policy

Governments’ failure to engage in substantive and open conversations about complex public policy issues are pose a challenge our regulatory processes. We find ourselves in a situation where people passionate about environmental, social and economic issues are looking to participate in government-led conversations. In the absence of conversations about energy policy or climate change, our regulatory processes have become the lightning rods for social licence activity.

[The following is the event notice from Third Tuesday Ottawa]

Third Tuesday is back with another blockbuster speaker: President of the Treasury Board, Tony Clement on Tuesday, February 7^th at the National Arts Centre.

Tony Clement is well-known as a politician who maintains an active Twitter presence, sharing what is on his mind and what he’s doing, and engaging in conversations with Canadians.

Tony Clement is also the President of the Treasury Board of Canada. That puts him in charge of Canada’s public service and makes him responsible for setting the standards and rules by which social media is being introduced into the Government of Canada.

As a Minister, Clement has pushed forward with initiatives to enable Canada’s public servants to use social media in the workplace and a broader initiative to introduce open government principles to the Government of Canada.

In just the past three months, Mr. Clement

• unveiled the Guideline for External Use of Web 2.0, the reference document that will be used by Canadian Public Servants in determining whether and how they should use social media in the workplace.
• announced that completed access to information requests now will be posted online.
• announced the addition of 4,000 data sets to the Open Data Portal.
• initiated a public consultation on Open Government. (The consultation closed in mid-January and the Treasury Board site promises that a final report on the findings will be posted in March 2012.)
• participated in a Twitter Chat on Open Government to give people a chance to raise issues, ask questions and engage with him online.

That’s a lot of action in a short period of time. But, what’s happening now? How are the Web 2.0 Guidelines being applied by Canadian public servants? What did Canadians tell the Minister during the consultation? What’s on the agenda for 2012?

Third Tuesday participants will get a chance in February to ask these questions and talk directly to the Minister when he appears as our featured guest.

If you’re interested in open government and the use of social media by government, this session will be of real interest to you. I’m looking forward to a great evening of discussion with a man who has matched his actions to his convictions. I hope to see you there.

Thank you to our sponsors

Third Tuesday is a community-oriented, volunteer-driven event. And we wouldn’t be able to bring great speakers to Third Tuesdays across the country without the support of some like-minded sponsors. We’ve been lucky to have some great companies step up over the past several years to help us make Third Tuesday happen. Big thanks are due to CNW Group, Rogers Communications, Canadian Internet Registration Authority, Radian6 and Cision Canada for making the 2011/12 Third Tuesday season possible.

Student Admission

We want students to be able to participate. So, if you’re a student, simply present your valid student ID at the registration desk and we’ll refund your admission fee. Courtesy of Thornley Fallis.

Thornley Fallis Communications is pleased to announce that Darren Cunningham has joined our team as a Vice-President in our Ottawa office.

From 2008 to 2011, Darren served as Director of Communications then Chief of Staff to Industry Minister Tony Clement.  

During the period 2006 to 2008, he was Chief of Staff to Minister of National Revenue Gordon O’Connor, Director of Issues Management and Parliamentary Affairs to Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, and Senior Media Advance for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

From 2003 to 2006, Darren held a variety of roles with the Conservative Party of Canada, including Manager of Media Relations, Director of Public Communications and Director of Operations.

Darren brings an exceptional track record in strategic communications, media relations, crisis and issue management to the Thornley Fallis team. As a determined brand and reputation manager, Darren has implemented creative media strategies, ethnic outreach programs, and social media strategies to ensure Canadians better understand their government.  He has also helped define what accountable and transparent government means while handling some of the government’s most controversial, including the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler — recognized as the 2009 business story of the year by the Canadian Press.

Originally from Calgary, Darren graduated from the University of Regina, before starting his career in the financial services sector, first with TD then with Fidelity Investments.

We had a great turn-out for last night’s Ottawa Launch of The High Road by Terry Fallis at The Parliament Pub.

Little did attendees know that Terry’s first book, The Best Laid Plans, would this morning be named to the CBC’s Canada Reads Top 5 Canadian Novels for the Decade.

In addition, the event also raised awareness of and $1500 for the Jaimie Anderson Parliamentary Internship Fund.

Terry Fallis reads from The High Road.

Bruce Anderson and Kate Purchase talk about the Jaimie Anderson Parliamentary Internship Fund.

On Tuesday, November 23rd, we are holding a launch event for Terry Fallis’ new book The High Road.

Terry’s first book, The Best Laid Plans, won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was recently voted as one of the CBC’s Canada Reads Essential Top 10 Canadian Novels of the Decade.

While you may know Terry from his days on Parliament Hill, Queen’s Park and more recently as co-founder of Thornley Fallis, if you have not had the opportunity to get to know Terry the author, now is the time.

What:     Ottawa Launch of The High Road by Terry Fallis

When:     Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Where:    Parliament Pub, 101 Sparks St. Ottawa

Time:      5:30 p.m. – Doors open

             6:15 p.m. – Remarks by special guests

             6:30 p.m. – Author reading

             6:40 p.m. – Book signing and socializing           

Cost:      Donations in support of the Jaimie Anderson Parliamentary Internship Fund will be accepted.   

This morning, I was fortunate enough to meet, talk to and have my photo taken with President Bill Clinton backstage at the NAC following his speech.

Ever wonder what book you should have read in your youth? 

Ever wonder what Terry Fallis does in his “spare” time? 

This week, Terry will be reading excerpts from his new book THE HIGH ROAD, the sequel to THE BEST LAID PLANS, at the 23rd Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival which runs from October 18-24 on the city’s Granville Island.  Terry is participating in two events, both on October 22^nd.

In this week’s (Monday, October 11th) issue of The Hill Times, Kate Malloy interviews Terry Fallis of Thornley Fallis about his new book The High Road.

Terry’s first book, The Best Laid Plans, won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour.

Earlier this year, Thornley Fallis & 76design worked with the Office of Consumer Affairs at Industry Canada as Secretariat for the Consumer Measures Committee to design and develop a new online presence for the Canadian Consumer Handbook.

Launched in April 2010, the handbook provides users with a searchable and easy-to-navigate platform as well as the option to build a customized handbook that only contains information they are interested in.

The Handbook is intended to help users become better-informed and more confident consumers. It offers information on a wide range of topics such as online shopping, contracts, housing and home renovations, identity theft, collection agencies, and much more, to help users build their buying skills.

Along with consumer tips, the Handbook includes a directory of government and non-government contacts useful to consumers.

The Handbook was created and is updated by the Consumer Measures Committee. This Committee is a joint federal/provincial/territorial committee which provides a forum for national cooperation to improve the marketplace for Canadian consumers, through the harmonization of laws, regulations and practices and through actions to raise public awareness.

After reading this article in the Ottawa Citizen, I went to the National Do Not Call List Website to, at long last, register my phone number to reduce the number of telemarketing calls I receive.  The registry “came online” today.

Unfortunately, here’s what I got…

I guess the CRTC wasn’t ready for the number of Canadians that would immediately want to take advantage of the registry.