Thank you.
Good morning, Madam Chair and committee members. Thank you for having us here today to discuss Public Services and Procurement Canada's response to the spring 2019 audits of oversight of Government of Canada advertising, which were undertaken by the Auditor General of Canada.
As the chair already mentioned, I am accompanied today by Mr. Jean-Pierre Blais, who is the assistant deputy minister responsible for PSPC's work in this area.
Madam Chair, Public Services and Procurement Canada is committed to ensuring that advertising by Government of Canada departments is non-partisan in nature and to playing our role in that regard. We accepted and followed through on the recommendation that we should provide clear direction and training to our advisers on how to conduct reviews of Government of Canada advertising to ensure non-partisanship.
Today I will provide a brief overview of the role that Public Services and Procurement Canada plays in the oversight of the Government of Canada advertising process as well as how we have taken action to support the goals outlined in the recommendation from the Office of the Auditor General.
Communication with Canadians, which includes advertising, is central to the Government of Canada’s work and contributes directly to the Canadian public’s trust in government. Government advertising can help to convey important information about policies, programs and services, as well as information about Canadians’ rights and responsibilities under the law, and information to help protect their interests and well-being.
PSPC provides advisory services and technical advice with respect to legislation and policy requirements, including the federal identity program, official languages and non-partisanship. In so doing, we review all advertising materials submitted and, where appropriate, provide advice to departments in that regard.
With respect to the non-partisan review process, campaigns with a budget of over $250,000—and I appreciate that it was $500,000, I believe, when this audit was undertaken—must undergo a third party review process which PSPC coordinates. Those with a budget under this threshold may be formally reviewed at the discretion of the advertising department.
Regarding the recommendation directed at PSPC, after a review of PSPC files and documentation, the Office of the Auditor General recommended that the department undertake training on how to conduct reviews, including documenting the rationale for assessments.
I'm pleased to report that's exactly what the department has done.
The Auditor General's report made six recommendations with respect to the non-partisan oversight mechanism, of which one, in paragraph 4.51, was directed at PSPC. The recommendation was that Public Services and Procurement Canada should provide clear guidance and training to its half-dozen advisers on how to conduct their reviews, including documenting the rationale for their assessments of all non-partisanship criteria. Following this recommendation by the Office of the Auditor General, with which we wholeheartedly agree, PSPC immediately undertook to create and update training materials and checklists for all of our advisers. This work was fully completed by December 2019.
As part of this work, PSPC developed a process map for the non-partisan review process to support the advisers in the consistent review and documentation of advertising, which was completed in October 2019. This process map was presented to all advisers to ensure they had a clear understanding of the process and that it could be applied in a consistent manner.
A checklist was also developed that includes steps connected to the non-partisan review criteria. This work was also completed in October 2019.
Finally, the new advertising management information system, which has been procured and is now being configured, will allow for all relevant documentation to be stored in the system itself, including a step uniquely associated with non-partisan reviews.
These enhancements to our processes have been implemented and are fully operational.
Madam Chair, I assure you that PSPC is fully committed to its responsibilities in this area and has implemented our response to the recommendation issued by the Auditor General in this aspect. Our guidance and tools have been fully updated to support the consistent application of legislative and policy requirements related to the non-partisan advertising.
I'll leave it there so we have enough time for questions.
We are really looking forward to your questions.
Thank you, Madam Chair.