The role of policy brokering found in public-private partnerships is examined within the context of Canada's 11 Model Forests (MF). In this paper, key policy science concepts that have been developed to understand policy process are introduced. This is followed by an empirical examination of MF partnerships and their existing and potential roles in policy process. It is argued that policy influence of partnership arrangements such MFs needs to be examined in terms of the network structure of partners themselves as well as their role within a larger policy network.