Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it.
Many good questions have been asked and we appreciate your answers this afternoon.
Congratulations, Mr. Wouters, on your appointment. You've been to the committee many times before. As usual, you don't disappoint, but this is the first time in your new capacity, so we appreciate your willingness to come here this afternoon.
There's been a number of things talked about around the table today. I just thought it was interesting, and perhaps it's a point of interest to members of Parliament who sit at the table here, that some concern was brought up by my colleague Martha Hall Findlay as it relates to the cost of the GO Train advertising that was undertaken to advertise the action plan.
I think it's of interest to members of the committee that in fact this is probably good value for money. I wasn't aware of what it cost to advertise in the Toronto Star, but apparently for a two-day ad it costs some $57,000 for half a page. I think that most of us in our capacities as members of Parliament have advertised either in election campaigns or at different times and do understand that advertising in newspapers is quite expensive and is not always the most effective way.
I would commend the folks who spent $46,000 to advertise with the GO Trains by wrapping those GO Trains, because not only has that run for 10 weeks, but in addition to that, they effectively received several full-page ads in earned media.
I'm just curious to hear if there is any Treasury Board policy related to innovative advertising where it involves the possibility of or a strategy that may result in earned media in addition to the expenditure that the government may have had taking place. Is there any concern or anything that would discourage the government from purchasing media that may lead to earned media as a result of that advertising?