Thank you, Madam Chair.
As you indicated, I am joined today by Kelly Acton, who serves as the assistant secretary for strategic communications and ministerial affairs at Treasury Board Secretariat.
After my brief remarks, Ms. Acton and I will look forward to answering any questions from you and the committee.
The subject of today's meeting is, of course, the study of the non-partisan review process for government advertising, one of five reports presented by the Auditor General during the spring of 2019. As we've already indicated, this review process was implemented in 2016.
The Treasury Board Secretariat has addressed all of the recommendations outlined in the 2019 spring report of the Auditor General. I'll simply review those recommendations and then look forward to your questions.
The first recommendation was to consider a risk-based approach to identify campaigns with the higher risk of partisanship. At issue in this recommendation is a determination of what is the best indicator of risk. To date, advertising spend and the total of that spend has been the best indicator.
After an analysis of the review process, it was concluded that a consistent dollar-based target remains the most reliable indicator of risk. That threshold has now been reduced for mandatory review of ad campaigns from $500,000 to $250,000. This reflects the changing nature of the industry and a trend toward somewhat lower dollar amounts in the use of digital media in advertising campaigns. This approach is designed to capture at least 80% of the government's annual advertising budget.
The second recommendation was to ensure that the Ad Standards, the external third party review mechanism, documents the rationale for its assessment of government advertising campaigns against all non-partisan review criteria. In response, the new evaluation form for Ad Standards to assess ad designs and better document their findings has been developed by Treasury Board officials and implemented in this process.
The third recommendation was to assess the appropriateness and application of the two-stage review process to ensure that it is effective and works as intended. The process is set up to ensure that ads are reviewed twice: first, early in the production process and then before actually going to market. This allows any creative work to be reviewed and modified, if necessary, before additional costs or delays are introduced into the process.
Officials found that, depending on the type of media used in the advertising, the period of time between the reviews fluctuated. Based on those findings, it was determined that the process was working as intended and did not in fact need to be changed. Informed by work on this recommendation, guidance was developed to ensure departments plan the timing of their review request to Ad Standards. This guidance was shared with departments and is also posted on Canada.ca.
The Auditor General's fourth recommendation was to improve how officials monitor ad campaign reviews and whether Ad Standards is thoroughly and consistently applying all non-partisan criteria in its reviews. In the fall of 2019, a panel consisting of officials from both Treasury Board Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada began assessing a sample of Ad Standards' reviews each quarter and determined that Ad Standards was applying the criteria consistently. This oversight is, of course, ongoing.
The fifth and final recommendation called for an independent, objective review process to receive, review and respond to public complaints about partisanship in government advertising. In 2020, after looking at options, including the feasibility of implementing an independent review complaint process, a pilot project was established to accept, review and report on public complaints in this area. The public can now submit a complaint online about any Government of Canada advertising that they may feel is partisan. The nature of the complaint and findings of the review would then be posted on Canada.ca.
Treasury Board Secretariat is committed to ensuring that there continues to be an independent and strong oversight of Government of Canada advertising. The audit identified process gaps and not substantive deficiencies in oversight. As noted, these recommendations have been addressed.
Ms. Acton and I are, of course, prepared to answer your questions.
Thank you very much.