Government Operations Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2009

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Did the practice of using signage precede this government? In other words, have other governments used signs?

[Michelle d'Auray]

If I may, Madam Chair, it would have started in 1994.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

In 1994; that was not the Conservatives in government at that time, as I recall.

Let me ask a different question. A question was asked of you of whether you sit at the pleasure of the Prime Minister.

Mr. Wouters, I believe you mentioned that three of the four of you sit at the pleasure of the Prime Minister.

Is that a brand new practice?

[Wayne Wouters]

No, it is part of our system of government. We are appointed by the Prime Minister. I am appointed by the Prime Minister and I serve the Prime Minister. My colleagues are appointed to serve a minister.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Would that practice—not yours specifically, but appointments to a position such as yours previously—precede this Conservative government?

[Wayne Wouters]

Oh, yes, this is a long-standing practice in our Westminster system.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

So it might include Liberal governments as well.

You also indicated in your testimony that you weren't prepared to divulge certain advice that you give to the president of the Treasury Board.

Again, is that just current practice, or has it always been the practice of the clerk?

[Wayne Wouters]

No, it is long-standing practice. The advice we provide to ministers is confidential.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Your time is up.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you very much.

We now go to Madame Bourgeois, pour cinq minutes, s'il vous plaît.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. d'Auray, I would like to go back to the answer you gave me a little earlier. I want to get a clear understanding.

To meet the requirements of the Government of Canada's communications policy, you no doubt develop a planning process. I imagine you have a communications policy.

You say that this year you'll proceed with such and such a form. In any case, you're developing a planning process, I'm sure, so that we can have a planning process in terms of deadlines for specific programs, but also in terms of costs. Is that correct?

[Michelle d'Auray]

Madam Chair, the policy establishes the guidelines that the departments must follow. It is up to each department to establish a communications plan or a communications strategy. The Treasury Board does not have a communications plan, except for its own department. Most of the communications initiatives form an integral part of the initiatives of the programs of every department and agency.

When you examine, for example, the departments' reports on plans and priorities, you can see the major communications orientations and the amounts allocated to communications activities because they come out of the budgets of each of the departments.

The exception, if I may say, are really the advertising issues. Amounts are allocated by the government for advertising campaigns, and that signage is done directly on the Treasury Board website. However, planning and execution are the direct responsibility of the departments.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

You nevertheless have to conduct some advertising planning.

[Michelle d'Auray]

Indeed, our advertising planning is done based on the amounts that are allocated and posted. We can provide you and the clerk with the hyperlink to the Treasury Board Secretariat site where the amounts and initiatives to which those amounts are allocated are posted.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Give me the time to get a clear understanding. Every department is responsible for its communications. A general advertisement concerning the departments is done by the Government of Canada on its website.

[Michelle d'Auray]

Allow me to point out that there is no pan-governmental planning. Funding is available for television, radio and other advertising. The departments request access to that funding. The allocation of that funding is posted on the website. However, it is the responsibility of each department to undertake the advertising activities and initiatives.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

All right. Every department does its own advertising based on its own budget.

The recovery plan is a quite special initiative that arrived suddenly. Earlier, in response to my question concerning signs, you said that every department uses part of its budget to advertise the recovery plan. Does that mean that every department has to bear the cost of the signs it installs in front of its buildings?

[Michelle d'Auray]

I would point out that, for advertising, there is a Treasury Board Secretariat website where the amounts allocated to each of the departments for advertising campaigns are posted. There you can find the amounts that were allocated under the economic recovery plan, for example, to the Canada Revenue Agency, for advertising the renovation credit. There's an amount of $7 million, as my colleague Mr. Kennedy said earlier.

As for the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development, there's also an amount allocated for advertising and for an advertising campaign concerning the initiatives. The amounts are posted on the websites of each of the departments that have an activity to carry out under the action plan and have an advertising campaign.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

We now go to five minutes each.

Mr. Martin.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

I have three quick things I'd like to deal with. I'll skip across them very quickly.

First of all, I'm curious about these door hangers. I've never heard of them. How many were produced? Who distributes them? And who decides what neighbourhoods they get distributed to? Would you please table some of them with this committee so we can examine them?

Secondly, the website doesn't comply with your own common look and feel standards. We've investigated this. In fact, part 3 of your common look and feel standards of the Treasury Board Secretariat, sections 3 and 4, says that you don't conform to the guidelines with the word mark, the banner, and so on. That's a concern.

Finally, it's still not clear to me when MPs can hand out these prop cheques and not be in contradiction of Treasury Board guidelines. I know that nothing is stopping me from creating a dummy cheque, or whatever it is, and signing my own name on it in front of a construction site and trying to take credit for it. But if you're a government backbencher, as 60 or 70 of these people were, in my own province, does the Treasury Board not have some comment on a Conservative Party or government-side member signing these cheques and using the government word mark? Never mind the Conservative Party of Canada logo; are they authorized to sign the cheque and to use the wordmark?

I'm sorry about asking three things, but I tried to be concise.

[Simon Kennedy]

Thanks for the question.

Regarding the issue of door hangers, there were 3.5 million of those produced and, just for a bit of precision, in general they were distributed to houses that were older than 15 years, houses where the judgment would be that there would be a greater likelihood of the individuals undertaking a renovation.

In terms of having the specifics of how that would happen, I have to get back to the committee with the details. My assumption would be that, as with other marketing, it would be done by postal code. The firm that would have been engaged to do this would have had some methodology to ensure that distribution.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

It would be distributed door to door.

[Simon Kennedy]

That's right.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

With some guidance from the government, I assume, as to what neighbourhoods they would go to.