Government Operations Committee on March 10th, 2011

[Anne Marie Smart]

It's a general statement, but I assume yes.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Okay. Now, getting back to the question of the ads for this year's budget, for which you have eight days to prepare, pre-test, and broadcast, which is a remarkably small time, are there elements of these ads or key messages that you know already?

[Anne Marie Smart]

That I know? No.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Or that the finance department would know already.

[Anne Marie Smart]

I have....

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Surely it would, but all right.

[Anne Marie Smart]

It's budget secrecy.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Pardon me?

[Anne Marie Smart]

I was saying it's budget secrecy. I wouldn't know. I'm in the Privy Council Office.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Of course. But you know, we have heard for months some of the things the government is saying will or will not be in there, and some of the themes we've certainly heard. I'd be surprised if there wasn't already some testing of those.

What criteria do you use to determine that an advertising project should receive public funding?

[Anne Marie Smart]

It's a cabinet decision. As I mentioned, there's an annual advertising plan. Normally the theme, as you can see on the handout, is set through the Speech from the Throne or the budget, and it's a cabinet decision.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Do you want to turn it over to me?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I want to turn it over to my colleague, Mr. Chairman.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you.

Again, following through on what my colleague just asked, we're understanding that the finance department has said that some of the money has already been spent preparing an ad campaign and that it would be a comprehensive national campaign. I'm just following up on him.

I'm hearing from you that Privy Council doesn't know about that, but the finance department does. Okay, we'll follow up on that.

When you determine that an advertisement will air, for example, using—and I think you talked about it earlier--the Oscars or the Super Bowl.... I was in marketing a long time back, and those ads are at a hyper price, a lot more expensive than most.

I'm seeing shaking heads. So you're saying you don't pay a premium for these particular placements?

[Mark Perlman]

Just to clarify, when it comes to things like the Academy Awards or the Super Bowl, we have to remember that we're looking at the Canadian market and not the North American market. When we advertise, we're advertising on a network. In the case of the Academy Awards, it's CTV, and we're looking at about a three-million-viewer population.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I did buy ads in both of those, so I know they're at a premium.

[Mark Perlman]

When we buy them, we always plan it in advance. We will look for a package. Cossette Communications will be looking for a package--

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

So it's a reach buy.

[Mark Perlman]

It's a reach.

The way it works, the budget remains the same. It's trying to see how much penetration we have into the market.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have 15 seconds.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I'll come back to my questions, and maybe we'll have more time.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Madam Coady.

Mr. Holder.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

I'll carry on with some comments if I can.

I've listened to questions from around the table as well as your thoughtful responses. It's rather interesting. Here's what I've heard so far, and I find this very compelling. There's been no dovetailing of ads such that the Government of Canada ads and Conservative Party ads appear in the same short segment. I've heard that. I've heard that there's been no direction under the PCO to promote the Harper government. We actually leave the opposition to do that. I've heard that all government advertising is subject to legislation, policies, and procedures, and that they're rigorous. I've heard that all contracts are awarded competitively. I've heard that by centralizing media purchases, the Government of Canada leverages combined buying power, whether it be TV, radio, print, or web advertising. I've heard that Public Works provides annual reports on advertising to offer their overview of the Government of Canada's annual expenditures.

Madam Smart, have I missed anything? Would you deem those comments I've made to be reasonable considerations?

[Anne Marie Smart]

Yes.

The management of advertising has a lot checks and balances built into it. Between Public Works, the Privy Council Office, Treasury Board, departments, and ministers' offices, any advertising initiative goes through a number of stages, phases, checks and balances, to ensure that we're getting the best value for money.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

The comment came up about some risqué ads, and obviously that poses a concern to anyone. Should that be the case, I can't imagine that any government of any stripe would ever want to be associated with that.

In fact, what's rather interesting--and Madam de Jourdan, you had quite the opportunity to respond to this, and perhaps you might--is that when the reference to Canada Post came up, I recall, I was sitting in my seat in the House of Commons, and I listened to the minister's response. He was shocked when advised by a member opposite of the association betweeen this Internet site and the risqué ads. I was led to understand--and I know this is not your area--that Canada Post moved immediately to remove any inappropriate ads.

Can you explain a bit about the Internet ads and how you have filters in place? For those of us who are a little less technical, can you give us a little wisdom on that?