1. FMC Briefing Papers D Brown, Pols 321 Fall 2009

2. Briefing Paper assignment Goal: to prepare briefing papers relevant to your role (or your team’s role) in the First Ministers Conference By Nov. 11: each team (delegation) to provide an email outline of your planned contents: what and who Nov 18: each team to provide a draft set of notes to the instructor Nov 26: final version of briefing book is due.

3. What is a Briefing Paper? Any document prepared for senior executives (e.g. Prime Minister, Minister, Deputy, President of Company etc.) to quickly and concisely brief them on a current situation and what you suggest they do about it.

4. Variants on the Briefing Paper Simple notes summarizing key facts to educate or to remind the Minister or executive about the situation (e.g. economic, fiscal, statistical, policy) Longer position papers outlining the government’s perspective and proposed position on a specific issue Speaking notes to guide the Minister in addressing the issue in a conference or meeting

5. Briefing Paper style Short, clear sentences and paragraphs. Clear headings. Graphs and numbers clearly presented. Overview and Conclusion paragraphs that provide the key points up front. Based on research but not academically argued.

6. Briefing papers required 1.Overview of your Government’s general interests and situation – population, economy, party standings in legislature, etc. (2 pages) 2.Overview of general intergovernmental strategy / approach to federalism (2 pages) 3.Background and Position on the each of the three Agenda Issues (2-3 pages each) 4.Overview Strategy for Conference (2 pages) 5.Speaking Notes for First Minister (3 pages)

7. Potential sources for preparing briefing material Throne speeches Budget speeches and documents Premier/ PM websites (for individual governments) – media releases and speeches Council of the Federation website Media websites/ newspapers

8. Team task/ Individual Roles Teams should determine the briefing needs of each delegation (what’s going into your briefing book) Team members divide up the work. Aim for 10-15 pages of material for each team member (including tables, charts, etc.).