Andrea Sarkic spoke to The Hill Times about the lobbying landscape with the new Carney government.

Andrea Sarkic, lead public affairs counsellor with Compass Rose Group and a former Conservative staffer, said Carney has a business approach that will underpin not only the prime minister’s choices for his cabinet, but policy decisions.

“Something that I’ve noticed with Mr. Carney — which is slightly different than we’ve seen before, and will impact lobbying to some degree—is his federalist approach to the provinces,” said Sarkic.

“In your lobbying, where appropriate, you will need more emphasis on trying to have that provincial-federal crossover

approach. For example, working with B.C., [or] Ontario, [or] New Brunswick on the softwood lumber issue, or having B.C. and Alberta align with your clients on issues like [liquified petroleum gas] and hydrogen-as-ammonia corridors, because the feds talked about building trade corridors and trade enabling infrastructure.

There’s a lot more of that that I think will occur, based on what we’re seeing so far from Mr. Carney.”

Carney’s election platform promised nearly $130-billion in new measures over the next four years, including an income tax cut, an increase to existing defence spending by $ 18 billion in order to meet a two per cent NATO spending target, and $ 11.8 billion towards Build Canada Homes, a new agency focused on affordable housing.

Sarkic told The Hill Times that the only way to eat that $130-billion elephant is “one bite at a time.” She said Canadians will have a better sense of what measures will be immediately prioritized following the announcement of ministers in the Carney cabinet, along with mandate letters.

“I think one of the biggest hurdles, or lines, [Carney] will have to walk that came through in promises and platform commitments is the strategy aimed to balance environmental sustainability with the economic growth—where he did mention numerous times both clean and conventional energy sectors,” said Sarkic.

“I’m watching to see what that means and how that translates to both new measures, [and] investments priorities. For me, understanding who is ultimately placed into cabinet and key roles that will touch on that portfolio will be very telling.”

In March, Carney pledged to address the housing crisis by unleashing “the power of public/private co-operation at a scale not seen in generations,”!which Sarkic said should be the main focus when thinking about the approach the government will take on housing.

Sarkic noted that lobbying overall during the Carney administration shouldn’t deviate from the usual formula of “engage early, engage often.”

“I will be reminding folks that it’s really important to adjust and engage with the new government and the Liberals and get on message—ensure your message track is aligned, but it’s really important to remain both in with the outs,” she said. “The landscape on opposition has changed. The NDP and Bloc holds a very different perspective. We may not even see the NDP in committee, which actually will change the lobbying landscape, frankly.”