Government Operations Committee on March 10th, 2011

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Okay. You're not aware. You can't say it's not possible; you just don't know.

[Anne Marie Smart]

Not really.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Who controls the text in a news release? Who has the ultimate say?

[Anne Marie Smart]

Any news release? It goes through the department drafts. It goes through the minister's office. If it's an important announcement it comes over to PCO and we check that they have the cabinet authority to be saying what they're going to say. PMO looks at it and then it's approved.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Most of those ads, in other words, have to have the approval of the minister's office and the minister's political staff, or the Prime Minister himself, his office, in the case of government-wide announcements.

[Anne Marie Smart]

Advertising goes through--

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I'm talking about news releases, pardon me.

[Anne Marie Smart]

I was just going to tell you that advertising goes through exactly the same process as news releases for approving the content, so the department, the minister's office checks with Public Works, checks with Treasury Board, ourselves, and PMO are involved.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

If you're telling me there's no policy saying that the regime has directed that all news releases say “the Harper government”, you're not going to suggest to me that a minister's political staff wouldn't have been directed to put that in.

[Anne Marie Smart]

That's not for me to say.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

It's not for you to say. You wouldn't be aware of that necessarily if that were the case. Is that what you're telling me?

[Anne Marie Smart]

No.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

All right. Because it's certainly ubiquitous. I think it's fairly obvious. We've certainly seen commentary from lots of people in the media saying that this is a dramatic and obvious change that we see throughout government communications.

Let me go on. Who in the Prime Minister's Office is informed about advertising buys?

[Anne Marie Smart]

Specifically, the PMO communications folks would be.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

And does the government provide information--

[Anne Marie Smart]

I have no idea.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

--on ad buys to the Conservative Party of Canada?

[Anne Marie Smart]

Would the government? No, it would not.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I guess you'll agree that it's possible that political staff in the Prime Minister's Office could share the information.

[Anne Marie Smart]

I have no idea.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

We'll go to Monsieur Vincent.

You have five minutes.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I don't want to be hard on you because, at the end of the day, you are not the ones with the final say on how and what advertising is done. Based on what you said, it is my understanding that ads come from the department and then go to Treasury Board for approval and funding. I also learned that part of your job was to check whether one of the three symbols appeared in the ad. You do not look at the content of the ad or have a say in it. Nor do you decide how much will be spent on the campaign. Is all that correct?

[Anne Marie Smart]

All advertising is a cabinet decision. All of the priorities for advertising, as I mentioned, come through either the Speech from the Throne or the federal budget. The departments then work--

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I know that. I already said that.

What I am trying to get at is where you fit in to the whole process. What is your role? If the minister or the department is the one that makes the decisions, and final approval for any advertising comes from Treasury Board, what is your role in all this? Is it your job to find the consulting firm?

[Anne Marie Smart]

The Privy Council Office coordinates what's called the annual advertising plan, which goes to cabinet for approval. Our job is to coordinate and bring the proposal to cabinet.