Mr. Speaker, I am here this evening to elaborate on questions asked earlier about the Government of Canada's advertising program, in particular the advertising engaged with regard to the economic action plan. As we now know, very large amounts of money have been spent on government advertising. I will be the first to acknowledge that certain aspects of government advertising are very important. Educational advertising, advertising required to inform Canadians of specific programs that they can take advantage of, advertising, although it was insufficient, for H1N1 are examples of government advertising that are important and we support that.
However, as we have seen, great amounts of money, millions of dollars have been spent on advertising by the government that is rather than educational, purely self-congratulatory. I would reinforce the concern that it is taxpayer money that pays for government advertising, so in effect, taxpayers across the country have paid for millions of dollars of self-congratulatory advertising by the government.
Even worse, these millions of dollars of this self-congratulatory advertising have also blurred the image of the Government of Canada with the image, the colours and slogans associated with the Conservative Party of Canada. That is in breach of several of our federal laws and guidelines. I would list in particular the Treasury Board guidelines of communications policy, the federal identity program, that government advertising use specifically condones Government of Canada symbols. Those symbols do not include a number of the symbols, slogans and colours in particular that this advertising has included.
I have several specific questions with respect to this advertising. I will ask the hon. member opposite to keep track because there are five or six specific questions.
Was the Prime Minister's Office involved in any way in the creation of the economic action plan brand?
What direction was given by the government to communications and advertising agencies responsible for creating the brand and designing the marketing materials and strategies?
Who approved of the use of specific colours, images, slogans, look and feel aspects and other branding elements currently used in the economic action plan brand and associated marketing materials?
Who conceived of and who approved of the duplication, for example, of the cover of the 2008 Conservative Party election platform and used the exact same cover for the Government of Canada's 2009 Speech from the Throne?
Who decided that the economic action plan branded logo would use not just any blue, but out of a choice of millions of options of pigments, the exact same pigment of blue used by the Conservative Party of Canada?
What advice, if any, was received by the creators of the marketing materials and logos about the compliance of the branding elements of the economic action plan that are currently in use? If any advice was given, what was that advice in terms of compliance with the Treasury Board communication policy guidelines, the federal identity program, compliance with the Conflict of Interest Act, the Conflict of Interest Code that applies to all of us as parliamentarians and in fact any other laws that restrict conferring benefits on a political party?