Evidence of meeting #94 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was campaigns.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:15 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
But you just said it's not shared, and you just said it was shared.
10:15 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth, Privy Council Office
I didn't say it wasn't shared.
10:15 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth, Privy Council Office
We share the data on the click-through rates and the data on the advertising activity. As part of a campaign overview, we would share. If it's also requested by an access to information request, we would also share that. If we got a media call that asked us what the data was on that campaign, we would provide that data.
10:20 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth, Privy Council Office
I don't think the results are published. ACETs, yes, a million-plus are published.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Do we do oversight on government websites as well to ensure non-partisanship? I realize it's not advertising, but we are paying for these websites.
10:20 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth, Privy Council Office
Absolutely.
All Government of Canada activities, whether web presence, a news release, or a social media shareable, apply by non-partisan communications standards, so we would have oversight over all the activities to make sure they are respecting the communications policy of the Government of Canada.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
So...no excessive use of red, blue, or orange on websites.
10:20 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth, Privy Council Office
On the government websites, all communication would have to adhere to the colour requirements for the communications policy.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Yes, that's what I was asking.
Ladies with Advertising Standards Canada, you may have mentioned this, and I'm sorry that I may have missed it. We are having a review of spending over $500,000 in campaigns. Have you done reviews on government spending in smaller campaigns?
10:20 a.m.
Assistant Secretary, Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs, Treasury Board Secretariat
Sorry, I don't think you were aware of it earlier, but two campaigns were submitted for ASC review that fell below the $500,000 threshold.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Was it because they were just marginally below $500,000, or we thought maybe it was a marginal? Why did we submit?
10:20 a.m.
Assistant Secretary, Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs, Treasury Board Secretariat
Any department voluntarily can submit if they want to go through that process.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Okay.
Ladies, is $500,000 the right level we should be looking at? Should we lower it or increase it?
10:20 a.m.
Vice-President, Standards, Advertising Standards Canada
We wouldn't know. That's something you'd have to ask Treasury Board.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I'm asking for your professional opinion. Should we be looking at all ads or all advertising campaigns for oversight?
10:20 a.m.
Vice-President, Standards, Advertising Standards Canada
That's not something we can have an opinion on.
10:20 a.m.
Vice-President, Standards, Advertising Standards Canada
We review the advertising they send us.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
10:20 a.m.
Assistant Secretary, Strategic Communications and Ministerial Affairs, Treasury Board Secretariat
As we were developing the process ,we did look at that threshold. Looking back over three years, about 90% of government ad campaigns were over the $500,000 on average. In the PSPC material a major campaign is defined as above $500,000, so that was why we chose that threshold.
