I think we have two different issues here. First of all, this was a media inquiry, Mr. Chair. This was not an ATIP request. I'd like to be very clear about the two issues.
Number one is that when I became aware of the situation, I explored what had happened, both through the department and through my own ministerial office staff. What we discovered was that everything was done according to the Government of Canada communications policies. I should point out that any time there is a media inquiry to the department, they communicate immediately with my staff to make sure they are aware of this. One key issue here was that there is a process to be followed in making sure we respond to media inquiries in a timely and accurate and responsible manner. That procedure was followed completely.
The one lesson, if any, that we learned through this was that we need to make sure our communications internally are perhaps more elaborate, if I might use that word, than they might otherwise be.
We believe it was very prudent to make sure that Canadians got accurate information. The question was what the actual costs of the Olympic ad campaign were. Frankly, the ad campaign was still running. We didn't know what the actual costs were, nor, when we booked the ad campaign—or rather, when Public Works and Government Services Canada booked it—was there a specified allocation for just the Olympics.
So the actual numbers didn't exist because the time period hadn't elapsed yet. That being said, it was prudent, as has been done in the past, to not release what could be misrepresentative numbers to the public. As soon as the campaign was over, we released much more accurate information to the reporter, inside of three weeks.