Information & Ethics Committee on Dec. 11th, 2018

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Do you share a lot of political opinions and opinions on various topics other than politics?

[Ryan O'Connor]

It's predominantly political, but there may be cultural matters that we discuss. It really all depends, usually, on what's in the news. It does go beyond politics, but it's predominantly politically focused.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

In 2016, when your foundation was created, did it meet a need in the community? We know that nature abhors a vacuum. Did a significant void in terms of political opinions in Ontario lead you to create Ontario Proud?

[Ryan O'Connor]

Yes, there was a bit of a void, we would argue, and we've said this publicly in the press. There was a bit of a void in terms of third parties advocating for fairer taxes, personal freedom and government accountability and responsibility. We did see a void there. Not a lot of people, frankly, were using social media effectively to articulate political messaging.

We did see that the federal Liberal Party did a tremendous job of online campaigning and Facebook messaging in the 2015 election, and that was something we looked to. There was a void from the non-political party perspective.

It wasn't intended to become what it has, but we're happy that it has become what it has.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Does this void also come from traditional media, which tend to present only one side of the coin, or does it go beyond that?

[Ryan O'Connor]

I think it demonstrates that a lot of persons now obtain their news from social media. In fact, there have been surveys published in the press that indicate that many persons don't even turn to traditional media to obtain their news anymore. They simply go to their Facebook newsfeed. In between photos of their grandchildren, they see stories from the national press, the CBC, etc.

I think what we're doing is a bit ahead of the game, but the world is moving towards that and away from traditional media. I think that's not necessarily a bad thing. A diversity of views, opinions and news is a good thing in a thriving liberal democracy.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

If the trend is for people to look for information through digital media because they're spending more and more time searching on their smart phones and on other platforms, how, in an election campaign, should we view these new digital platforms, which spread a great deal of information and over which there's virtually no control? Do you have ways to help us?

[Ryan O'Connor]

I don't think that the government, Elections Canada or federal agencies should ever be involved in regulating the content of news. I don't think that historically in this country we've had a sort of “commissioner of news media” to determine whether something that's being published is appropriate or not.

What I can say is that we're certainly open to stating to the committee that we as a third party want to comply with the legislation in terms of disclosure of our finances, etc. That's what we'll be doing with Bill C-76.

In terms of regulating the content of what occurs online, that's a beast that I don't think government is equipped to handle, and it's not something that I think it should handle.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Thank you, Mr. Gourde.

Next up, for five minutes, we have Monsieur Picard.

[Michel Picard, Liberal, Montarville, QC]

I'll give my time to Mr. Erskine-Smith.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Okay.

Is it Mr. Erskine-Smith or Mr. Baylis?

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

We'll go with Frank, and then I'll take the next five.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Go ahead, Mr. Baylis.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

How many people work at Ontario Proud?

[Ryan O'Connor]

We have two full-time employees and several part-time employees. We have consultants who assist us on an as-needed basis.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

What's your annual budget?

[Ryan O'Connor]

We categorize it differently because of regulatory requirements, so I—

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

What's the global budget?

[Ryan O'Connor]

It really depends. Last year—

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

What was last year's global budget?

[Ryan O'Connor]

We'll see that in the disclosure, but last year we spent a significant amount of money. We fell within the guidelines.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

That's fine. What is the number?

[Ryan O'Connor]

Okay. Last year, hundreds of thousands of dollars was spent on third party political ads. That will be disclosed shortly, so you can see the numbers for yourself. Our human resources budget is actually not massive. We have to pay salaries. I'm not prepared to disclose what we're paying for salaries—

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I'll ask again. What was the global budget? I don't need the salary breakdown. How much money in total did you spend last year? It's a simple question.

[Ryan O'Connor]

It would have been likely close to half a million dollars, or a little bit in excess of that with respect to advertising.