Government Operations Committee on Nov. 19th, 2009

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. I'm standing in for Ms. Yasmin Ratansi today.

We'll get to our witnesses right away. We do have some committee business to deal with at the end, but we'll deal with all that hullabaloo when we're finished with you.

From the Privy Council Office, we have Simon Kennedy, who is the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation; and Marilyn MacPherson, who is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Corporate Services Branch.

In the past, I've usually given each witness 10 minutes, up to a total of 20 minutes, for a presentation. I don't know if you've had a previous arrangement.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard]

We usually spot you 10 minutes per organization.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

There you go. You have at least 10 minutes, and if the committee is gracious, maybe you can have up to 20 minutes—who knows?

Please, the floor is yours.

[Marilyn MacPherson, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services Branch, Privy Council Office]

Thank you very much.

Good morning, Mr. Vice-Chair. We are delighted to be meeting the members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. As you said, Simon Kennedy is here with me.

My opening statement pertains to the 2009-2010 Supplementary or B Estimates for the Privy Council Office. Because we have a number of separate items, I am going to present them without further introduction.

The PCO is asking for $16.9 million to cover eight items. The first amount, which is $7.3 million, will be used to cover the PCO's extra operating costs. Additional resources outside the PCO's reference levels are needed to permanently eliminate the chronic pressures on the department. The funds will help the PCO continue to promptly provide the Prime Minister's Office and ministers in its portfolio with the advice, services and support they need. The funds will be used for the following purposes:

– Additional human resources to advise and provide services to the Prime Minister.

– Support for the Prime Minister and his Cabinet before or during activities in which the Prime Minister will be taking part in Canada. This includes broadcasting, lighting and recording services, equipment transportation costs, travel and overtime. It also includes administrative and logistical support, including secure voice and data transmission, enabling the Prime MInister to carry out his duties while he is traveling.

– Increased use of translation services. More communications products are being distributed in order to provide Canadians with as much information as possible on the work the Prime Minister and the Cabinet do on their behalf.

– Costs related to office space, including one-time costs incurred to purchase secure communications equipment, furniture and equipment, and the cost of ongoing delivery of administrative ministerial support services.

– Provision of communications-related advice, services and support to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.

– Additional costs associated with support for ministers' offices. Any additional costs would normally be absorbed by the department, which is the case for more departments that have only one minister's office. PCO funds five ministers' offices, including the new office of the Minister of State for Democratic Reform. PCO cannot absorb all of the costs with its current parliamentary allocation.

The second request, in the amount of $3.9 million, is to support the implementation and coordination of a government-wide communications strategy for EAP.

PCO has a central role in the coordination and management of government communications as determined by the Prime Minister and cabinet. To help ensure the success of EAP, a fully integrated, coordinated, and consistent communications effort is required to support the two-year economic stimulus plan.

The government has a responsibility to make sure Canadians are informed of programs and initiatives they can take advantage of under the EAP. The Government of Canada has directed PCO to support the implementation and coordination of an integrated, government-wide communications strategy for the EAP. Specifically, the key goals of the EAP communications strategy are to identify EAP initiatives through common, whole-of-government communications, to provide useful information so that citizens can fully access benefits, and to account to Canadians for spending on EAP initiatives.

As such, PCO has developed and is overseeing the implementation of an integrated cross-government communications strategy for the EAP that includes the development, implementation, coordination, and monitoring of communications activities for the EAP; the production and dissemination of a guide to EAP benefits and programs; advice, coordination, and support related to the development, implementation, and evaluation of EAP advertising campaigns; the development, design, and daily maintenance of the EAP website, and the implementation of new media communications tools and activities; the development of an overarching brand, including the development and distribution of guidelines to assist departments in using the brand in all applications such as broadcast media, web, and print advertisements, as well as signage; and the review and coordination of public opinion research on the views of Canadians on the EAP and branding strategy.

The vast majority of measures contained in the EAP are temporary, with projects and initiatives to be delivered by March 31, 2011. As a result, all EAP communications activities related to this strategy will be phased out on or before that date.

The third request, in the amount of $3.1 million, is to fund the ongoing activities of the commission of inquiry into the investigation of the bombing of Air India flight 182.

Additional funding is required in 2009-10 in order to fund the commission's operations until late 2009 or early 2010 as a result of delays in the production of the report. In order to provide useful recommendations to the Governor in Council, particular care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the narrative and the practicality and appropriateness of any proposed solutions. The final page count of the report was also reduced from 6,000 pages to 4,000 pages.

The fourth request, for $2.1 million, will serve the Public Service Renewal Secretariat. Subsequent to the horizontal strategic review of central agencies responsible for human resources, PCO's activities related to Public Service renewal were consolidated with those of the working group that previously reported to the Public Service Agency of Canada. The Secretariat supports the clerk in implementing Public Service renewal as a key management priority.

The fifth request, for $700,000, will be used for the internal inquiry into the treatment by Canadian officials of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin. The Commissioner submitted this confidential public report to the Governor-in-Council on October 20, 2008. Some sections of the public report were not released on October 20, causing a dispute between the Minister of Public Safety and the Commissioner. The Commissioner's mandate has been extended. Negotiations are ongoing between officials of the internal inquiry and the Minister of Public Safety to resolve the dispute.

The sixth request is in the amount of $7,000 for the program of Canada's youth employment strategy. This strategy, presented in budget 2009, is the government's key program to help young people. Due to the current labour market disruptions, it was expected that it would be harder for many young Canadians to find a summer job. An amount of $41,000 was received this year through supplementary estimates (A). However, as some eligible departments have declined the funding, PCO was entitled to receive $7,000 in addition to the originally allocated amount.

The seventh request in the amount of $200,000 is a transfer of funds to Foreign Affairs and International Trade to provide support to departmental staff located abroad under the Canada-Australia exchange program. In September 2007 the Prime Minister of Canada and the Prime Minister of Australia signed an agreement to create a new joint public policy initiative in order to enrich the dialogue and relationships between the two countries. PCO is responsible for the development of program policy and management of the participants on exchange. Foreign Affairs and International Trade will provide all services related to the relocation, travel, and housing of Canadian participants under the common services abroad policy and will be reimbursed by the PCO. An amount of $200,000 is being transferred under supplementary estimates from PCO to Foreign Affairs and International Trade for that purpose.

The last request in the amount of $4,000 is a transfer to the Treasury Board Secretariat to support the operational activities of three national employment equity councils, the National Council of Federal Employees with Disabilities, the National Council of Aboriginal Federal Employees, and the National Council of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service.

In closing, I would like to thank you for giving me this time to inform you of the ongoing initiatives in the 2009-10 supplementary estimates (B). We would be pleased to respond to your questions.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

Thank you very much.

Now we have the Liberal Party of Canada.

Would you prefer Ms. or Mrs.?

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Not Mrs. Ms. will do fine, thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Hall Findlay. Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

All right.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you very much, Mr. Kennedy and Ms. MacPherson, for being here again with us.

I have a couple of questions about the $4 million for the advertising and communications. The first question is, why in particular is there so much more for the PCO? In the main estimates, we had $34 million under Finance and the Canada Revenue Agency together for the communications of the economic action plan. I'm still not clear on where others...in other departments there may have been some, but at least in those two there was $34 million.

In the supplementary estimates (B) there's an additional $9 million being requested by Finance and the CRA. Given the, I think, well publicized concerns already raised about the total being spent on advertising and the significant amount of that advertising not necessarily being to describe specific programs--and I will get to that in a subsequent question--why in particular does the PCO need such a large amount of additional money? I know you've explained it here, but could you elaborate on why in this case the PCO needs to be spending an additional $7 million?

[Simon Kennedy, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultation, Privy Council Office]

Thanks very much for the question.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

As opposed to the specific departments that are involved.

[Simon Kennedy]

With regard to the $34 million the member mentioned, that's in reference to the advertising that's been undertaken by a number of departments, such as Finance and HRDC and so on. The $3.9 million set out in the documents we're talking about today is not actually for advertising; it's for the coordination of the economic action plan communications activities that are taking place across government. A good example would be the advertising that's being done by the various government ministries. We need some additional resources to actually coordinate that advertising that's being done by the departments.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Why? I don't actually understand. An additional $4 million is an awful lot of money. It seems to me that Finance and CRA are doing a pretty significant job advertising on their own. Why is there this additional amount? What is it that needs to be coordinated?

[Simon Kennedy]

For example, Mr. Chair, in terms of the question, all of the various advertising campaigns, as I mentioned last time I was before the committee, are being run under a common look and feel—a common banner, a common brand, if you like. The Privy Council Office is managing the website; the content comes from a number of departments. We have had to bring in a number of staff on a temporary basis to help manage the website and the traffic to the website.

There's a budget for some additional market research and testing.

We've also had some money provided through this process, for example, for the printing and distribution of various guides to departments, as well as guides to front-line service staff in government departments. I don't have a sample handy, but we produced, for example, a guide to the programs and services of the economic action plan that had an index in it very much like one you might see in a Bible, whereby you can look by client group; for example, I'm a single mother, I'm an aboriginal person, I'm a mayor of a town—that sort of thing. You can very quickly look through the index and find out what programs and services are specifically tailored to that group. We produced this guide and we distribute it to front-line staff, so that if they have clients or people coming in, they would have this guide. We produced that; it had a budget.

It's those sorts of things—things that were basically a corporate service to the government to make sure that all the communications are coordinated.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

You mentioned market research. I meant to begin with a note that we have asked for information on the market research and the description of the objectives. We were supposed to get that information two days ago. We just got it today and therefore have not had enough time to review it. I want to make sure from a committee perspective that, upon review, if we would like to ask you back, you would be willing to come back and talk to that, just because we haven't had the two days we thought we'd have to review it before today.

[Simon Kennedy]

I think that will be fine.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

You mentioned the look and feel. Mr. Kennedy, the last time you were here, you talked about the request for an exemption from the standard look and feel. In that testimony, you mentioned the use of Google Maps. Could you tell us the details of the exemption? Can you tell us the actual text of what was requested in the exemption?

[Simon Kennedy]

Well, Mr. Chair, there are two different kinds of exemptions. One is, broadly speaking, the communications policy for the government.

I must open a parenthesis here. I am not the lead for that; that would be the Treasury Board, if we speak in detail.

Generally speaking, the communications policy sets out the graphic standards that the government follows when it communicates: the Canada wordmark, the signature of a given department. If you're International Trade or if you're Transport, there's a very standard signature that you're all familiar with. The standards basically say those are what are to be used.

There have been occasions in the past, and now is a good example, when the government for a variety of reasons has wanted to use a different logo or brand because there is a particular initiative or set of initiatives that the government is undertaking, and they want to make sure Canadians can see that they're all part of this one measure. The way the policy works is that, generally speaking, the graphics standards are the ones set out in the policy. If the government wants to add an additional logo, they get an exemption so that they can introduce an additional logo. That's one piece.

There's another piece that relates to the graphic standards for the Internet. To be quite honest, those are very technical. It's a question of the number of pixels and so on. I don't have the document handy, but I can say that the technical standards are quite precise in terms of the number of pixels used. It literally is that detailed. Google Maps and some of this technology are actually newer than some of those technical standards, so we seek an exemption from the technical standards around what the home pages are to look like.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Is it possible to get detail of what the exemption, as it was requested, actually consisted of?

[Simon Kennedy]

I'll have to get back to the committee, but I certainly think it would be possible to describe what it was that we had sought an exemption for.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

That would be very—

[Simon Kennedy]

Mr. Chair, I'm just not sure whether the specific documents are actually cabinet documents or Treasury Board documents, but I think we could certainly get back with more detail on this issue and what it was we needed to make adjustments for.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Okay.

I would like your thoughts on a concern that we've raised repeatedly, and that is that although full acknowledgement that when you have a program... For example, H1N1 is an educational need for the government to educate Canadians, but then there's the home renovation tax credit or the tax-free savings account. We acknowledge that there is a benefit to Canadians to have information about those programs so that they can take advantage of them; we do not disagree with that at all. But I'm very concerned, if you can comment briefly, about the extraordinary amount of money that has not actually been for anything that's describing a program.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

You have seven seconds.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

But apparently my time is up, so I guess that will just have to be on the record, and maybe I'll ask another time.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

Ms. Bourgeois of the Bloc québécois has the floor for eight minutes.