Innovating government through public engagement: The case of New Brunswick

Let’s begin by declaring the central finding of this study: Public engagement (PE), as we will describe it, works. It helps citizens, communities and stakeholders work together with government to frame policy issues, identify solutions and share responsibility for implementing them. PE is very different from the consultative approach that governments usually employ when they involve the public in the policy process. In that approach, members of the public do little more than provide government with their views on an issue. In public engagement, the public also participates in making trade-offs, setting priorities, balancing competing objectives and proposing solutions. In addition, the public is ultimately expected to take some responsibility for delivering the solutions. This does not mean that the traditional approaches to involving the public no longer apply, only that PE is better suited to deal with the growing complexity around many policy issues