Government Operations Committee on March 10th, 2011

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

To both sides of the room, would five business days be perceived to be a friendly amendment?

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

Certainly.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay.

Mr. Holder.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

I'd like to implore our members opposite who regularly request such reports that the reference to business days be the standard. That feels reasonable to me. All of us in business have been mindful of that, to the extent that in our world here we define business days as being Monday through Friday. There are those whose business days are weekends as well, but I think we might go with that definition. I come back to the point of sufficient time. Let's hope that it is.

Unlike some of the reports in the past that have cost significant dollars, where the expense of presenting it in both official languages was done and not utilized, I trust the committee will take in all this information and utilize it. I think that's as much as needs to be said three times.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Monsieur Gourde.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I just want to add something along the same lines as the other comments. We could amend the motion to read: “provide it with the following information in both official languages”. That would prevent what happened today and perhaps speed up the process of putting together the information.

Ms. Coady, would you be willing to accept that amendment to your motion?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I think you'd better.

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

Sure.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

How kind of you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay.

As amended, it's five business days, in both official languages.

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

Yes.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

What unanimity. I'm so impressed.

Thank you, colleagues.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

“Harmony re-established on Parliament Hill”: how about that?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Yes. There might be a headline out of this.

Members, I'd like to call forward the witnesses.

I want to welcome Anne Marie Smart. I apologize for not being able to greet you personally, but we were otherwise occupied.

I'm working on the assumption that you've been well briefed on the presentation and the anticipated questioning over the next while. I welcome you on behalf of the committee, and anticipate that you will introduce your team.

Thank you.

[Anne Marie Smart, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Communications and Consultations, Privy Council Office]

Thank you very much, Chair.

I have about five minutes' worth of opening remarks. I will introduce my colleagues who are here with me today as I give those remarks. I will begin with a short opening statement just to provide members with an overview of government advertising and to start to identify the respective roles that my colleagues and I play in the advertising process.

The current process for the allocation and management of advertising expenditures was established in 2004. It has three objectives. The first is to ensure that advertising campaigns are aligned to government priorities; the second is to ensure that they comply with government policies, procedures, and legislation; and the third is to ensure that they address the information needs of Canadians.

The respective roles and responsibilities of institutions in advertising have been established at all stages in the process, including in the planning of advertising, in its execution and also, importantly, in its evaluation.

These are set out in Treasury Board's communications policy and in its procedures for advertising. My colleague Monique Lebel-Ducharme, of the Treasury Board Secretariat, will be pleased, of course, to answer any questions you may have on the policy framework for advertising.

Generally, the bulk of government advertising campaigns in any given year are funded by what they call a “set-side” in the fiscal framework in the amount of $65.4 million per year. That amount was established in 2004. Examples of advertising campaigns funded by the set-aside this fiscal year include those on Canadian Forces and RCMP recruitment, protecting the health and safety of Canadians, victims of crime, jobs, and tax cuts.

I should also note, however, that this is not the only source of funding. Departments can obtain funding for advertising through policy memoranda to cabinet. An example would be the advertisements you may have seen discouraging drug use by youth, which were funded as part of the national anti-drug strategy.

Finally, departments can also fund advertising from their operating budgets. An example of a campaign this year that was funded by a department was a campaign on new employment insurance measures for the self-employed.

There are also many public notices in a given year. Typically, public notices provide basic local information on, for example, the construction of a federal road, job opportunities for on-reserve nurses, or other important information on a program that may affect local residents or for which a consultative process is required. Departments invest approximately $5 million annually--that's the total amount--on these operational public notices.

Regardless of the source of funds, all government advertising is subject to the legislation, policies, and procedures that govern this function. For example, to access funds in the $65.4-million set-aside, departments and agencies work with the Privy Council Office to develop advertising proposals that are based on government priorities. The priorities are often established by documents such as the Speech from the Throne and the federal budget, or by cabinet. These proposals are coordinated by the Privy Council Office and are brought to cabinet for consideration and approval. If they are approved, they are then submitted to the Treasury Board for review and funding approval. Finally, if approved there, they are submitted to Parliament for approval of appropriations.

Once the funds are approved, they are allocated to departments, each of which manages their own campaign budgets and expenditures on behalf of their ministers.

The next stage in the process is the procurement of advertising agencies for production and media planning. Advertising procurement is undertaken solely by Public Works and Government Services Canada, which works closely with and on behalf of departments. The procurement of advertising agencies is based on a competitive process, and it is done in accordance with the established policies and procedures.

Public Works also manages the government's advertising agency of record, which is a single firm that purchases all advertising time and space for the government. The objective of centralizing media purchases is to leverage the combined buying power of the government to obtain the best prices, whether it is for television, radio, print, out-of-home advertising, or the web.

As I mentioned earlier, advertising is subject to Treasury Board policies and procedures. To help all departments comply with the rules, Public Works and Government Services works closely with the Treasury Board to review proposed advertising for compliance with policies and procedures. My colleagues here from Public Works are Mark Perlman and Louise de Jourdan. They would be very pleased to answer any questions you may have regarding the role and functions of Public Works in the advertising process.

Treasury Board policies and procedures also require departments to pre-test creative concepts for their ads and to then conduct post-campaign evaluations of their major advertising initiatives.

Finally, the last step in the process is reporting. It is performed on a number of tracks, such as, for example, by means of the website the Treasury Board Secretariat has that identifies the moneys committed to advertising from the fiscal set-aside.

Public Works also has annual reports on advertising that provide an overview of the Government of Canada's annual expenditures.

I have briefly described the process, and I sought to identify the responsibilities of the institutions represented at this table today: Treasury Board Secretariat, Public Works and Government Services Canada, and the Privy Council Office.

I hope this brief overview will assist committee members.

I've also given three handouts that summarize what I was talking about. On one page you have the advertising management framework. You have some examples of major themes and campaigns for 2010-11. Finally, you have a document produced by Public Works on the Government of Canada's advertising process, roles, and responsibilities. They are all bilingual, and there's considerable information in the little handout.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Ms. Smart.

Ms. Coady, you have eight minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

We certainly appreciate your time today and your gathering up of the information and laying it before this committee.

I have a lot of questions, so bear with me as I go through them.

My first question speaks to your advertising agency of record. You say the agency of record does the advertising buy.

[Anne Marie Smart]

Yes.

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

They have the sole responsibility for doing this advertising buy, and you say that the Privy Council Office, in consultation with cabinet, understands what is to be advertised. Is that correct?

[Anne Marie Smart]

That's right. It's cabinet that sets the priorities.

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

How much is spent for this agency of record? How much do you give them in fees per year?

[Louise de Jourdan, Director, Advertising Coordination and Partnerships, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

The agency of record provides different types of services, so they are remunerated in different ways. They provide corporate services to PWGSC as a coordinator across government. That includes reporting and that kind of thing. For that service they are provided a monthly fee--

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

What's the retainer, please?

[Louise de Jourdan]

It's considered commercial confidential--sorry.