Location: Ottawa
Employment type: Permanent or temporary
This role is an opportunity to have a major impact in shaping climate and energy policy in Canada.
As our Manager — Federal Government Relations you will be a key member of our team and will be integral to our efforts to advocate for low-carbon economic growth and climate policy across Canada.
This is a newly created role at Clean Prosperity. While Clean Prosperity has done policy and government relations work federally for over a decade, this is an opportunity to expand our federal outreach and increase our effectiveness. If you’re the right candidate, you’ll be excited about the opportunity to be part of building up and accelerating our federal advocacy.
At Clean Prosperity, our mission is to help Canada become a net-zero economy in a way that is affordable for Canadians and generates economic growth all across the country. Getting the balance right is important to ensure that the solutions we advocate for are evidence based and politically durable. A lot of our work focuses on the importance of industrial carbon markets, but this role is also an opportunity to expand our advocacy around the decarbonization potential of nuclear energy.
We are passionate about what we do and we are looking for a smart, ambitious person to join our team.
Clean Prosperity is committed to diversity in its hiring processes. We welcome applications from members of visible minorities, First Nations, Métis, Inuit, persons with disabilities, persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and others with the skills and knowledge to help provide a diverse range of perspectives and lived experiences.
The Role
The Manager — Federal Government Relations plays a key role in expanding the impact of our federal government relations, stakeholder relations, and media relations work in Ottawa, while also contributing to organization-wide policy objectives.
This role will report to the Director of Federal Government Relations, and will work closely with members of our cross-Canada team.
Key Responsibilities
Below is a list of key responsibilities currently envisioned for this role. We are a fast-paced organization with evolving priorities so these responsibilities may change. As the team is stood up and finds its groove, we anticipate these responsibilities will be refined between you and the Director of Federal Government Relations:
Government Relations:
- Support the team in relationship-building efforts and engagements with relevant federal officials – including parliamentarians, political staff, and departmental staff – regarding climate, low-carbon economic growth, and nuclear energy policy.
- Monitor, and provide advice on, government briefings, political developments, committee hearings, and related events.
- Draft formal communications to government, including submitting feedback as part of government consultations, pre-budget submissions, and policy memos.
- Represent Clean Prosperity at government and stakeholder briefings, hearings, and related events.
- Undertake similar activities to the above with relevant staff from all political parties.
Stakeholder relations:
- Identify and engage other stakeholders who will be influential on topics related to our policy agenda, with a particular focus on building strong relationships with the business and investor communities.
- Attend, and present at, relevant events, such as conferences, forums, and conventions, on topics of interest to the organization.
- Draft compelling presentation decks that help us persuade policymakers, funders, and other stakeholders.
- Plan and implement stakeholder engagement events, occasionally alongside partner organizations.
Media Relations:
- Support the production of a range of different content, from op-eds to issue briefs to blog posts.
- Work closely with our communications team to pitch Clean Prosperity’s policy messages to the federal government, opposition, media, and related stakeholders.
- Handle administrative and logistical activities related to the media release of policy reports, research papers, and other external-facing documents.
Policy Research & Development:
- While we have staff dedicated to deeper policy research, you will be required to develop sufficient technical expertise to help prepare briefings on our policy priorities, including writing and editing reports. You may also be asked, from time-to-time, to undertake modest research assignments on questions of policy.
In addition to the responsibilities described above, you will be asked to contribute to other organizational priorities from time-to-time. In addition to the responsibilities described above, you will be asked to contribute to other organizational priorities from time-to-time.
Skills/Experience Needed
The below list represents our ideal set of qualifications. We encourage you to apply if most of these are a fit, even if there are one or two that aren’t:
- Bachelor’s degree and at least 4 years of relevant work experience.
- Significant experience (3 years minimum, ideally more) in either a policy role within government and/or conducting government relations.
- Superb people skills — you must be able to build relationships quickly, work with people across the political spectrum, and find common ground with those who disagree with you.
- Great storytelling skills — you must be able to take complex, technical topics and turn them into compelling narratives that resonate with elected officials.
- Baseline understanding of Canadian climate and energy policy, (deeper understanding is a bonus) and a belief that Canada should strive to reach net-zero by 2050.
- Experience engaging and persuading external stakeholders (policymakers, business leaders, community leaders, or similar influential stakeholders).
- Ability to work independently and effectively.
- Ability to adapt in a fast-paced and quickly changing environment.
- Excellent communication and writing skills.
- Experience synthesizing research, writing briefing notes, and presenting findings and recommendations.
- Basic comfort in reviewing and interpreting academic policy reports.
- Ability to register to lobby federally under the Lobbying Act.
- Legally eligible to work in Canada.
Location, hours, and culture
We are a small and tight-knit team who support each other’s work, every day. Our team comes from a very diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, and we bring those perspectives and experiences to every effort, making all our work better in the process.
All of our team works remotely. We anticipate you being located in Ottawa, so you can easily get to meetings with parliamentarians and government officials. We keep standard working hours, but are much more concerned about results than about how you organize your time. We are a people-focused organization: staff have flexibility in how they schedule their working hours.
Even though we’re virtual, you will interact regularly with the team. We hold weekly staff meetings, virtual happy hours, and in-person events for which you may be required to travel approximately two times a year.
Compensation
We’re seeking someone who can fill a vital role in Ottawa. While we are a nonprofit, most of our staff come from the private sector and we intend to pay a competitive salary. We understand this is an important consideration for any applicant and we will discuss salary during our first discussion with you.
How to apply
Please send an email to ManagerFedGR@cleanprosperity.ca with the subject line “Application for Manager – Federal Government Relations” that includes:
1. Your resume
2. A cover letter that explains why you want to work with us, why you’d be a good fit, and something that you’re passionate about outside of work (e.g. a hobby, a favourite place you like to go, or whatever makes you smile when you’re not in the office).
IMPORTANT NOTE: The screening, interviewing, and hiring of applications will all be done by humans. We aren’t looking for a key-word list in your submission — we want to know YOU. As such, please ensure your application is also written by a human. Thanks!