Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to be here today. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to make a few comments. I read the committee's motion and welcome an open dialogue on these important matters.
In this respect, I would note that my department had two contracts with Mr. Hugh MacPhie that predate his work for the minister's office in Budget 2007.
In the fall of 2006, Mr. MacPhie was engaged by the chairperson of the expert panel for the children's fitness tax credit, Dr. Kellie Leitch, to assist in drafting the panel's final report and recommendations. This was an independent panel operating at arm's length from the department. It was to provide the minister with timely advice on the definition of programs that should be eligible for the children's fitness tax credit proposed in Budget 2006.
The contract was managed by officials in the department's Tax Policy Branch.
Mr. MacPhie was subsequently hired by our communications branch in the Department of Finance to provide strategic communications advice and to assist in drafting the fall 2006 Advantage Canada economic plan that accompanied our fall economic statement. The decision to engage Mr. MacPhie was linked to his strong knowledge of the minister's communication style and our experience with him on that earlier project. I had some contact with Mr. MacPhie personally on this project and can attest to the quality of the work. In fact, when I briefed my deputy colleagues on Advantage Canada, I referred to the job he did in communicating this in quite a unique and helpful way for us.
Separate from these two contracts, the minister's office also issued two other contracts related to the two witnesses you have called before this committee, one with Mr. MacPhie and the other with Sara Mintz.
According to guidelines set out for ministers by the Privy Council Office, ministers, and I quote:
...are personally responsible for the conduct and operation of their offices. They hire their own office staff, who are known as “political” or “exempt” staff. The staff are outside the official public service and are exempt from Public Service Commission staffing and other controls.
They are not my staff. Treasury Board, as my colleague mentioned, issues policies and guidelines for ministers' offices based on these PCO guidelines. Part 4 of these guidelines states that
Ministers are individually responsible and accountable for...expenditures made for their offices--whether by them directly [or] by their staff....
Ministers often delegate some of this authority to their chiefs of staff. They practically always do and should appropriately do so, as was done in this case.
Treasury Board guidelines on contracting for ministers' offices are very specific in terms of processes that must be followed. Under these guidelines, ministers' offices may request advice on contracting procedures from the department, which in the case of these two specific contracts was provided by departmental officials. My officials also processed the payments under the contracts once the minister's chief of staff at the time, who was the contract authority in these cases, certified that the work was delivered as specified, as required under the Financial Administration Act.
I would now be happy to provide answers to the best of my knowledge and ability with respect to any questions that committee members might have for me, whether for the contracts administered by the Department of Finance itself or for the department's administrative support for contracts entered into by the minister's office.
Merci.