Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, Ms. Fraser. And good afternoon to your team.
Ms. Fraser, in your opening statement, and in reference to chapter 1 dealing with advertising and public opinion research, you referred to progress which has been satisfactory. You stated the following:
Given the serious weaknesses that we identified in our 2003 audit[...] this year's findings are good news.
I don't entirely share the same interpretation. Because the situation was very bad and has now improved, you said that things are better now. And yet, in two places in your report, you clearly state that progress is unsatisfactory, especially when it comes to the Government of Canada's Communications Policy. Under this policy, departments must submit research project descriptions to Public Works and Government Services Canada and advise it in advance of any research activities being contemplated.
In 2003, 20% of department officials involved in such projects did not comply with this policy. And yet, based on your research, there was no progress made in this regard. 80% of people complied and 20% didn't. So we are at square one.
Once again, according to the Government of Canada's Communications Policy, departments must submit work plan descriptions before commencing work to Public Works and Government Services Canada. You carried out a contract-value-based assessment and it turns out that the situation in that regard is even worse: for contracts over $200,000 I think, this directive wasn't complied with in 60% of cases. There was an 85% non-compliance rate for small contracts. To my mind, the problem is big enough to cast doubt on what you consider to be an improvement.
It's possible that considerable improvements have been made in some areas but there are still a number of gaps. Department and program officials could conduct a poll which may be used for unjustifiable political purposes.
Were the same activities and the same departments involved in each instance of non-compliance with the Government of Canada's Communications Policy?