OLSEN+BIGGS Public AffairsWe were engaged to ensure various governments in Canada were aware of alternative supplies of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests available during a time of widespread shortages. Through our work, we secured a $30 million purchase order from a Canadian provincial government in early 2022.
We were engaged in 2021 to assist Fort Calgary respond to questions from Infrastructure Canada which threatened an on-going multi-million dollar grant application. Our work ensured that Fort Calgary’s submission met Infrastructure Canada’s requirements in relation to Duty to Consult, and other requirements including environmental and archaeological assessments.
Following successful completion of the submission to Infrastructure Canada, we were retained to develop a government relations plan, bring the society into regulatory compliance with federal lobbying rules, and create a government funding advocacy plan.
Supporting a political outsider, the Jan Damery campaign wanted to ensure that their candidate knew the issues and had ideas which could attract leading voters, donors, and volunteers to the campaign.
Jan Damery led the way on donor transparency, attacked corporate donation laundering through third-party-advertisers, and called for a municipal vaccine passport 7 weeks before Calgary Council followed suit.
The Jan Damery platform prepared by Kyle Olsen Public affairs received numerous plaudits. Former City Councillor Brian Pincott was impressed with the “thoughtful solutions and approaches”. Willem Klumpenhouwer of the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute said the transit plan “set the bar for how serious candidates should be talking about transit”. Assistant Professor Sara Hastings-Simon of the School of Public Policy and Director of UCalgary’s Sustainable Energy Development program called the climate change policy proposals “raising the bar for ambition” and “detailed”.
In addition to platform and policy, we offered strategic council, rapid response, media release drafting, opposition research, complaint drafting, and other campaign services.
In 2007 I was hired to help make quizzical self-funded Mayoral candidate Alnoor Kassam a credible candidate.
I produced a detailed policy platform (below), crafted our candidates social media presence including YouTube videos, assisted in drafting media releases, and maintained the campaign website via a content management system.
Kassam was endorsed by a broad coalition of groups including unions (the Amalgamated Transit Union, the Calgary Firefighters Association, and CUPE Local 37) and right wing groups (Progressive Group for Independent Business).
The Better Calgary Campaign (Endorsement Committee: Chima Nkemdirim (Chair), Sarah Black, Tom Booth, Trevor McLeod, Naheed Nenshi, Janice OBriain, Doug Schweitzer and Jamie Woods) called Alnoor Kassam’s platform “the best”, and endorsed “his platform and his survey results” while declining to endorse Alnoor Kassam.
Of the 5 core promises, 4 have been implemented by the City since 2007, as have been a majority of the other commitments.