by Shawn Graham and Chris Baker
In political life, you meet some remarkable people. By the time I became an MLA, Claudette Bradshaw had been elected twice as an MP representing Moncton and was serving in the federal cabinet. Of course, growing up in Kent County, I had already known Claudette as the results-oriented social activist behind Moncton Headstart and other worthy causes.
It was my great good fortune that Claudette came to me as our team was getting ready for a possible election in 2006. She volunteered the services of herself and her husband Doug to be part of the campaign. I was eager to have an experienced policy hand and campaigner in the Fredericton HQ, but she had a different idea. Claudette and Doug wanted to be on the campaign bus.
With long hours on the road, the rushing to meet a schedule always falling behind, many events, tight seats, crazy roads – life on the campaign bus is not for the faint of heart. Yet she was signing up for this arduous task.
It was a memorable campaign. I quickly saw the advantage of having Claudette and Doug on the bus with myself, my wife Roxanne, and my young tour team. At every stop across New Brunswick, Claudette received as warm a welcome as I did. People were eager to have a word with her. Her welcoming hug was a trademark, encompassing and unconditional. She would introduce me to her friends and colleagues; her endorsement was a powerful seal of approval.
More importantly, Claudette had insights into the various communities we would visit. Her social work, as well as being the regional federal minister, brought her to every corner of the province. She was a steadying influence on our young campaign tour team and a ready source of advice and guidance.
Over the hours travelling between events, Claudette and I had the opportunity to talk about many things. In several of these conversations, we talked about the state of the non-profit organizations serving our communities. She was not concerned about Amnesty International or Greenpeace, she was concerned about local food banks, the Boys and Girls Clubs, and the volunteers at the local rink. As a province, we were becoming more dependent on the services provided by these groups, but these groups were facing their own challenges.
We typically envision our economy as one driven by the public sector on one hand and the private sector on the other. As a source of employment and as service providers, community non-profit organizations were emerging as a “third sector” of our economy. Claudette was concerned that New Brunswick was not taking full advantage of the strengths offered by these organizations. She was also worried that the partnership between the provincial government and the groups they fund to provide services had deteriorated to a dangerous point.
We were agreed that the state of these community non-profit organizations required investigation and that a new policy approach was needed urgently. But how would this be achieved? Who would we turn to for information and guidance on how we could best support community non-profits?
For Claudette, the answer was straight forward. We needed to get information and guidance from the community non-profits themselves. And not just the best known or those in the major cities, to be effective this consultation would need to take in as many community non-profits as possible and in every corner and community of New Brunswick.
She also knew that many non-profit organizations were sick of typical government consultations, which many saw as time-consuming, staged and superficial. Any new consultation process would be viewed with scepticism. The leadership of this new policy process would need to have credibility, not only with the non-profit groups but with the provincial government. The new policies that would emerge from the consultation process would need development and implementation as a “whole of government” exercise.
It was clear to me that Claudette was the one to lead this process. She had been in the trenches with many of these groups. They knew her and she knew them. And she was insistent that any process she would lead would be done her way, independent from the Government of New Brunswick.
As former minister, she knew that many worthy policy proposals can be derailed by internal processes and that competition for Cabinet’s time is fierce. Claudette was a savvy operator; she knew how to lower barriers to acceptance and communicate effectively with policy makers (in both languages).
I had confidence that her conclusions would be based squarely on the evidence provided by the non-profits and her reflections on the policy environment of the sector. A plan of action was needed, and Claudette was the right one to bring the voice of the non-profit sector to the Cabinet table.
Of course, this was just late-night speculation as the campaign bus wound its way around the Salmon River Road or driving up Route 7. My first decision was to have a reference to our discussions on the non-profit sector included in the Liberal Party’s Charter for Change. This late addition did not please the printers, but we needed to signal our intentions as a party seeking to govern. It’s brief but its there (page 32).
It was my belief that a new government needs to hit the ground running. The Liberal win in the election meant there would be no time to waste in acting on our priorities. As one of the many initiatives we undertook, a commission in the Premier’s name was appointed to investigate the state of Community Non-Profit Organizations and make recommendations to improve the relationship between these organizations and the provincial government. I was honoured that Claudette took on this task.
She was as good as her word. After the most extensive consultation process ever undertaken, she and her team put together The Blueprint for Action. There was genuine interest and excitement in the non-profit sector for this ambitious policy agenda. She called for the creation of a single agency that would facilitate relations between the community groups and the government. This agency would be the internal champion for the Blueprint and would deliver on the recommendations made in the report.
The four pillars of her report crystallized the concerns of the non-profit sector and gave guidance to our government on the necessity of providing multi-year funding, renewing the relationship between non-profits and their provincial partners, and encouraging a culture of volunteering. Most of all, non-profits wanted to be recognized for the work that they do and respected by their provincial government peers.
It is notable that items, such as recognition and respect, do not cost the government any money. They could even save money. In fact, the most important recommendations in her report were based on attitudinal change more than any budget line item. A fresh approach, based on respect and mutual goals, was needed to deliver on the Blueprint. Ever the optimist, this was Claudette’s way.
The Blueprint for Action, often called the Bradshaw Report, created a new conversation between the provincial government and the community non-profits. We were able to achieve many of the policy objectives set out in the report, such as creating the “single door” agency that would be the internal advocate for non-profits, establishing multi-year funding agreements, and providing legislative and regulatory changes that support these organizations.
Claudette made sure that the voice of non-profits was heard loud and clear. The Blueprint for Action is just one of the many legacies given to us by Claudette. She worked tirelessly for positive change in New Brunswick.
One thing for sure, there are more hugs in heaven now.
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Shawn Graham was New Brunswick’s 31st Premier. Chris Baker was the founding Deputy Minister for the Secretariat for Community Non-Profit Organizations.
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