Whose input counts? Evaluating the process and outcomes of public consultation through the BC Water Act Modernization

ABSTRACT

Public consultation has become an increasingly common form of democratic engagement. While critics have challenged the potential for public consultation to democratize policy-making due to existing power structures, few studies have undertaken a systematic evaluation of the policy outcomes of consultation. This study combines qualitative and quantitative techniques to systematically analyze participants’ responses to policy proposals, and compare those responses with resulting policies. We utilized this approach to examine the large-scale public consultation process that informed the development of British Columbia’s new Water Sustainability Act (2014). Our analysis revealed: (1) barriers to effectual engagement, particularly for First Nations; (2) statistical differences in policy preferences between industry and nonindustry groups; and (3) patterns in how these preferences align with policy outcomes, suggesting uneven participant influence on policy-making. This study highlights the importance of analyzing consultation outcomes alongside process design, and the need to assess consultation’s fairness and effectiveness by examining its outcomes for different participant groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Consultation
• participation
• evaluation
• policy-making
• democracy
• water governance
• Water Sustainability Act

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Water Economics Policy and Governance Network (SSHRC grant 895-2011-1029). The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of Iesha Yuan, and contribution of Alice Bazdikian to early study iterations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. https://engage.gov.bc.ca/watersustainabilityact/whatweheard/

2. The ‘individuals’ submitter group includes form-based and freestyle (nonform) submissions from unaffiliated individuals

3. A series of Supreme Court of Canada decisions in 2004–2005 established the government’s constitutional duty to consult and accommodate First Nations on decisions that might impact their aboriginal or treaty rights (Government of Canada 2011). Further, the BC government entered into a ‘New Relationship’ with BC First Nations in 2005 to improve government-to-government relations. These two developments created legal and societal expectations that the BC government would consult First Nations on the WAM, as it would affect aboriginal water use rights and watershed health within their territories.

4. Another 16 First Nation organizations and individuals also made submissions.

5. Response and alignment factor clusters were determined through hierarchical cluster analysis using a complete linkage method without initial bias (number of clusters, composition, etc.).

6. The ‘Water Industry’ submitter group incorporates a wide range of submitters, including provincial water associations and consultancies, water utility companies and commercial suppliers, and water retailers (e.g. Nestle Waters Canada). Because the category encompasses a diverse range of views, it does not fit neatly into Metagroup 1 or 2.

7. Water Industry is a clear exception to this trend. As stated previously, this category represents a range of stakeholders with divergent perspectives.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [895-2011-1029];

Notes on contributors

Ashlee Jollymore

Ashlee Jollymore is a PhD Candidate in resources, environment, and sustainability at the University of British Columbia, focusing on issues of water quality, interactions between hydrology and ecology, and water management.

Kiely McFarlane

Kiely McFarlane is a PhD student in resources, environment and sustainability at the University of British Columbia, where she is researching governance rescaling under British Columbia’s new Water Sustainability Act. Her research examines the role of policy and planning reforms in water governance shifts, with a focus on decentralized agency and power dynamics in state-based participation.

Leila M. Harris

Leila M. Harris is an associate professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia, and Co-director of UBC’s Program on Water Governance. Her work examines social, cultural, political-economic, institutional, and equity dimensions of environmental and resource issues. Her current research focuses on everyday water access and citizenship in Ghana and South Africa, in addition to a range of water governance challenges in the Canadian context.