Debates of April 27th, 2015

Opposition Motion—Government Advertising

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I find it disgusting that the Conservatives have wasted $750 million on self-congratulatory advertising since coming to power.

Over the past few years, the Conservative government has saved money by closing offices and cutting services to veterans, but it has still found $5 million to pay for advertising about the War of 1812. That makes absolutely no sense.

How can the Conservative member justify spending $5 million to advertise the War of 1812 when his government is closing regional veterans' services offices?

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it goes back to just last year when the hon. member for Pontiac showed great interest in how the government would advertise Bill C-21, the red tape reduction act. He said:

I'm wondering if there has been or if there will be outreach done that explains this to the mom-and-pop shop that's doing great work with 25 employees or fewer. How are we going to tell them how it affects them?

There is no difference in the question he has asked right now. We are passing information on to Canadians about important issues, and it is a message that has to be passed on.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if we were take the time to go through the entire budget of 2015 alone, we would see many examples where it is necessary for the government to inform Canadians about changes that are coming. One of those changes is on page 240, regarding extending compassionate care benefits.

Just this weekend, I happened to look at Twitter and there was a tweet from someone who said, “Without advertising I wouldn't have known to ask about #caregiverstaxcredit #cpc #thankyou”. This is an example where we are getting the word out to people who may need to avail themselves of these kinds of benefits that are available to them, and the compassionate care benefit is just one example.

Would my colleague care to give a few more examples of programs that our government has initiated where it is important that we take the time and effort, and spend the money, to get the word out to Canadians so they will be aware of the programs that are available to them?

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is very important. Just last week I received a call from one of our constituents who said “I do not understand the family tax credit. What is in there for me? What is in there for my kids who are in sports?” I sat down and I explained to him where he could get those credits.

Many Canadians are not getting the opportunity to see that message. It is up to us as a government to pass that message on to Canadians and families, so that they understand what tax benefits are there and can claim those tax benefits. We know that over 200,000 people are still unaware of them. We need to get that message out. The best way is by advertising.

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is one thing to advertise a government program when it has passed in this House and exists; it is another to advertise a government program when it is being considered by Parliament. According to government policy, which my colleague talked so much about in his speech, if one puts out a video, it must contain the words “measures subject to parliamentary approval”.

I have a case where the government has not followed the spirit of its policy. Last year, November 17 was the day of the Whitby—Oshawa by-election, and if we wanted to read an online article in the local newspaper, we had to pass through a gateway advertisement. It was a little tiny box with a video. The video contained a government advertisement about its spending plans. It was so small that we could not read the words “measure subject to parliamentary approval”.

I do not think the current government wanted to follow its own policies, and perhaps diluted the message that this video was sending on that by-election day. It was clear to me that nobody in those two seconds could read the fuzzy words. In fact, I had to go to the government website itself and look at the full high-definition ad to actually see the words. The government was not following the spirit of its own policies, and I wonder if my colleague would agree with me.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I do not totally agree with the hon. member's perception of that. I am not sure what he was watching at the time that he saw that video. If he was watching it on an iPhone, it might be very difficult to see. However, if he did see it and took the initiative to go back and look on his computer, I give him credit for that. Under the act, the ad requires those words, and we are following with that compliance.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to my friend's speech with some interest. I have to take one strong exception with something that he said, which was that the Liberals spent, I think it was $250 million over a certain period of time. That is exactly what the Conservatives are doing. There is something quite different about what the Liberals did, which is that they handed a bunch of that ad money to friends, in the sponsorship scandal. I hope that is not exactly what the Conservatives are doing. They are running many millions of dollars in self-promoting ads, much like the Liberals did, and when the Conservatives were in opposition they said that was terrible, that it was an awful waste of taxpayer money.

The member said that these ads need to be effective, yet through access to information, we have seen that the government's own assessment of these ads is that they are not effective and do not prove their worth and money. That is from his own department's assessment.

My specific question is this. For the last 17 months, the economy has had less than a 1% job growth, which is the worst record outside of a recession since we started taking statistics on this. It has been four decades since we have had such a poor performance in creating jobs. Why is there so little in the ads, and anything else that the Conservatives are doing, including their budget? The answer is the elephant in the room, which is that under their watch the Conservatives are not helping the economy to grow as it ought to.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is entitled to his opinion as to where the money should be spent with the ads we are placing. Those ads are looked at with strategic planning and action by our government and are placed in areas that we believe need to be addressed.

[Emmanuel Dubourg, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to say that I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Kings—Hants.

I am honoured to rise in the House today to speak to the motion put forward by my colleague from Ottawa South to put an end to partisan government advertising that is paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

The motion proposes that a neutral third party review and approve spending on government advertising. Given the Conservative government's frequent and dangerous use of partisan advertising, I am proud to support this motion, which basically seeks to protect the interests of Canadians as taxpayers first, but also as citizens of a modern democracy. These two objectives are both important, and they are what concern me most as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada and as the representative of the people of Bourassa.

At a time of fiscal restraint and in a worrisome economic context, when the economy is not growing and unemployment is high, I am outraged that this government can spend a fortune on partisan ads without any concern for their effectiveness or any serious consideration of their cost. We already know that since coming to power, this government has spent close to $1 billion on advertising. The total cost is $750 million, but to what end? These campaigns are supposed to inform the public. However, studies show that very few people retain new information after seeing these ads. This government keeps promoting programs that do not even exist yet. It is not only a waste of Canadians' hard-earned tax dollars, but also a sign of wanton disregard for this Parliament, which has a say in these programs.

The government's arrogance caught up with it in 2013, when it had to withdraw its ads promoting the Canada job grant because the ads suggested that the program was available when it still had to be approved not only by this Parliament, but also by the 10 provinces. In fact, a year later, this program was still not in place. The government was basically told that it was misleading Canadians.

Last spring, when I was watching the NHL playoffs, I was troubled by the fact that the Conservatives were wasting taxpayers' hard-earned money on partisan ads during this expensive advertising period. I therefore asked the government in the House how much it had spent on those ads. I was told that $1 million of taxpayers' money was wasted on promoting a program that—I repeat—did not even exist.

Today, we learned that another $13 million will be spent to promote the government's election budget. Let us remember that this budget favours the rich at the expense of the middle class and the people who are working hard to get into the middle class. The Canada Revenue Agency will spend $6 million. However, it is important to note that the Conservatives have been making drastic cuts to services for some time now. They made $253 million in cuts in 2012 and $61 million in cuts in 2013. All of the Canada Revenue Agency counters are now closed. That is where taxpayers used to be able to take their documents and always meet with the same person to get information. It is the average Canadian who is paying for these cuts. Let us not forget that the government is completely out of touch with Canadians' priorities.

Members will recall that, last week, I again asked the question because Ms. Ronald said she was receiving letters from the Canada Revenue Agency promoting the Conservative government. As usual, this government is trying to put out partisan announcements to justify the ideological cuts that directly affect Canadians.

I must say that this is a slippery slope for the government. It is time to stop this abuse. My colleague is proposing that a third party protect the interests of taxpayers, and this is highly justified in view of this kind of waste.

This abuse does not affect just public money. Our democratic institutions are tarnished when the machinery of government is made to serve a political party, the Conservative party, which is what is happening today.

We should remember that when each taxpayer pays his or her taxes at this time of year they are not contributing to the Conservative Party, they are paying their fair share to fund public services.

The government does not serve the Conservative Party. This is a tired and arrogant government that we are dealing with. This puts at risk the very foundation of our democracy.

I am bringing this up because charitable organizations that disagree with the Conservative government's policies are being systematically audited by the Canada Revenue Agency. It is a witch hunt and charitable organizations are speaking in unison against the government's rhetoric.

Three national medical associations—the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada—denounced the partisanship in another very specific advertising campaign. I am not talking about the opposition or the media here. These associations denounced Health's Canada's ad campaign last fall, specifically because it was partisan.

We also believe that Canadians want to protect the integrity of their federal government. Democracy Watch has already started a campaign calling on the Auditor General to look into this issue. That is what our motion proposes.

Lastly, I would like to ask government members whether they truly believe that their ads are informative, that they are not primarily partisan ad campaigns and that taxpayer money was properly spent, despite disagreement from Advertising Standards Canada and the three national medical associations I just mentioned.

What do the Conservatives have to lose by letting a third party ensure that taxpayer and government money was properly spent? What do they have to lose?

With the establishment of the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer they are quickly learning that their practices are being exposed, when they would have rather kept them in the dark.

However, today we are giving them an opportunity to show some integrity and to submit their advertising practices for an impartial assessment.

Canadians, as both taxpayers and citizens, deserve transparency, and I hope that the Conservative Party will vote in favour of our motion.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to what my colleague from Bourassa had to say.

What a strange day this has been. Our two parties have been lobbing the ball back and forth trying to pin down who has used the most public money for advertising over the years, but there is really only one way to truly change things, and that is to vote in an NDP government on October 19.

Still, the motion itself presents an interesting idea, and that is what I would like my colleague from Bourassa to comment on because once again, this is a typically vague Liberal proposal.

Can my colleague delve further into this idea of a third party? Who does he think should be responsible for analyzing government advertising? Would it be the Auditor General or another organization? The motion does not say much about that.

[Emmanuel Dubourg, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I am happy to hear that he likes part of the motion. As he said, he finds it interesting. It is an interesting motion, in fact, and I hope that the NDP will vote in favour of it.

However, he started off by talking about the old parties that are in the habit of using public funds. He must have been talking about the distant past because, during my campaign for the byelection in my riding, it was the NDP that used public funds to pay for partisan advertising.

The NDP now has to pay back over $2 million but is refusing to do so. The member should remind all members of his party to pay that money back as soon as possible for the good of Canadian taxpayers.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as a general comment, I want to say that we would need a referee to ensure that all the players are playing the game honourably.

That said, I want to ask a my colleague a couple of questions. First of all, would he not agree that the Conservative government has abused the trust of Canadians by using this thinly veiled and highly partisan advertising?

Second, does he think that Canadians can see right through the government, which is trying to polish its image on the taxpayer dime?

[Emmanuel Dubourg, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. Without a doubt, it is fair to say that the Conservative government is abusing the public trust.

As I said, $757 million in partisan advertising is completely unacceptable. Just think of what $757 million could have done for my riding, Bourassa, or for any other riding. What could we have done with that money to help people in need?

In addition, it is true that we will definitely need a referee to review and rule on this advertising.

After presenting the budget, the Minister of Finance himself is incapable of telling us how many jobs his budget is going to create in Canada. Furthermore, every time we ask him a question, he says that we need to let the Prime Minister's grandchildren worry about these problems. This government is being completely irresponsible.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak today on the Liberal motion on government advertising from my colleague, the member for Ottawa South.

The Conservative government has proven time and time again that it has absolutely no shame in spending tax dollars on wasteful, ineffective and highly partisan advertising. The Conservatives have spent more than $750 million on government advertising. In fact, just today we have learned of new plans by the Conservative government to spend even more tax dollars on wasteful ads.

According to a new media report, not only is Finance Canada spending another $7.5 million on radio and television ads for April and May, but the Canada Revenue Agency has a multimillion dollar advertising campaign of its own right now. I will quote from the report today:

The Canada Revenue Agency is spending $6-million on a concentrated TV bulk buy this month that includes pricey NHL playoff spots in what internal government documents describe as a continuation of an existing campaign that’s been running all winter.

Under the Conservatives, the CRA has seen massive cuts that have caused service standards to plummet and Canadians to be left frustrated. The Conservatives have in fact closed all of the CRA service counters and allowed the backlog of complaints to rise to more than 35,000. Even CRA's internal audit shows that its telephone support lines for small businesses go largely unanswered or are giving out erroneous information. Despite these ongoing problems, the Conservatives have still managed to find millions of dollars to spend on TV ads this month, the very month that Canadians are most likely to need CRA's help and be left wanting more.

As the motion states, a great deal of these ads have been partisan in nature and have served very little in terms of real public interest. This abuse of tax dollars is an affront to Canadians who work hard and expect their government to treat their money with respect.

To clean up this mess, we need greater checks and balances in place. The government should be required to submit its advertising to a third-party review process to ensure that the ads are appropriate, proportional and a sensible use of public funds.

Canadians are angry, and rightly so. They have a government that is asking everyone to tighten their belts, while the government spends hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on self-promotion ads.

I would like to give just a few examples of wasteful Conservative advertising.

In May 2013, the Conservative government ran an ad during the Stanley Cup playoffs advertising the Canada jobs grants. The Advertising Standards Council of Canada declared that the ad was misleading and was a breach of the Canadian code of advertising standards because it omitted relevant information. It also neglected to mention that the program did not even exist. In fact, the government had not engaged the provinces on an area of shared jurisdiction.

The Conservative government has already spent nearly $12 million on ads to promote Canada's 150th birthday, an event that will not take place for another two years. The Conservatives also spent tens of millions of dollars promoting the Canada economic action plan three years after the program actually ended.

The Conservatives have also frequently purchased really expensive ads during the NHL playoffs, the Super Bowl and the Oscars, and when asked to explain, they refuse to reveal any details to Canadians about the cost. Canadians are right to wonder about the priorities of the Prime Minister and his Conservatives.

It comes down to priorities. The Conservatives have lost touch with what really matters to Canadian families. While the Conservatives spend hundreds of millions of tax dollars on partisan advertising, they are also shortchanging our veterans. They shut down nine veteran service centres across Canada. They have spent as much advertising veteran services, which the Auditor General says are not actually meeting the needs of the veteran community, as it costs to maintain these nine offices, which actually were serving veterans.

The Conservatives have also chosen economic action plan ads over measures that would actually create jobs. There are still almost 160,000 fewer jobs for young Canadians compared to 2008, before the downturn.

Students across Canada are struggling to find summer jobs that can help pay for their school. Instead of helping students out, the Conservative government has cut the number of jobs created by the Canada summer jobs program by more than half.

However, a single ad during the NHL playoffs could actually pay for more than 30 student jobs in the Canada summer jobs program. Instead of creating summer jobs for students who need the work to pay for their schooling, the government is instead wasting that money on partisan ads in the NHL playoffs.

It is an issue of priorities. The Conservatives are out of touch with the priorities of middle-class families. Taxpayers are in fact disgusted by the flagrant abuse of their tax dollars on these ads. The Conservatives must end this wasteful spending of tax dollars immediately. For a plan, they need look no further than to my Liberal colleague, the member for Ottawa South and his private member's Bill C-544. His legislation would end wasteful government advertising by requiring the ads be vetted by an independent, non-partisan body before they can be released. It is the right thing to do.

If the Conservatives fail to act, then Canadians will have to wait until a Liberal government, after the next election, brings in these measures that would take partisan politics out of government advertising, and put an end to this wasteful spending and abuse of tax dollars.

The Conservatives like to preach that government has a responsibility to communicate with Canadians, but they fail to mention that they also have a duty to taxpayers to ensure that the way in which we communicate to Canadians is ethical, economical and responsible. In this respect, the Conservatives have failed miserably.

A Liberal government, led by the member for Papineau, would clean up this mess, would put in place good governance to ensure that tax dollars are not wasted, and would ensure that the government is able to communicate with Canadians and provide valuable services to Canadians, while at the same time respecting tax dollars and ensuring the power of government is not abused for partisan purposes.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, again, I listened closely to my Liberal colleague's speech and I come back to the same question, which remains unanswered. Perhaps this time around, we will get a bit further.

In fact, what I want to know—the Liberals moved this motion, they must have given this some thought—is what third party will be given this mandate. For example, will it be entrusted to the Auditor General, with all the problems that go with it? Or are we talking about a completely independent committee? Where do the Liberals stand on this?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.

The Government of Ontario is a good example of a government that created an independent authority for ensuring that all government ads are not partisan and that they offer good value to taxpayers. This is an example of a government whose approach works well. It may be possible to work with the Auditor General on this.

Nonetheless, for today's debate, the priority is to lay out a principle for the government to respect and to create a completely independent authority to ensure that the Conservatives' practices will cease.

[Brad Butt, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this has to be the day of the greatest irony in the House of Commons since I have been here. We are actually hearing the Liberal Party of Canada bring forward a motion on government advertising. I will tell members the difference between the Conservative government and a Liberal government when it comes to spending advertising money. On this side, we actually spend it on advertising. On that side, they blow $40 million out the door to support their buddies. That is the real difference.

The member for Kings—Hants also does not have a very good track record of picking the right party at the right time that actually forms the government. He could actually be in government and have an effect on these kinds of policies.

I want to ask the member what type of advertising he believes is appropriate. Is it appropriate, as an example, that we run ads to recruit men and women to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces? Is is appropriate that we run ads to recruit men and women to serve with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? Is it appropriate that the Government of Canada informs Canadians about specific programs and services they are entitled to receive, which is the bulk of the advertising the government spends on. On that side, when they were in government, the money went to their buddies.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the member cited several examples of legitimate government advertising, and of course, legitimate government advertising would be approved by an independent authority, which we describe in this mandate. There would be no quarrel with this independent authority about legitimate government advertising that actually provided value to Canadians and informed Canadians of valuable information and data they required and that was not partisan.

He asked about my decision to join the Liberal Party 11 years ago. I assure him that I am very happy to be part of a progressive, enlightened party that bases decisions on evidence and not ideology, that celebrates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that defends minority rights in Canada, and that will form an extraordinary government after the next election that will restore some of these basic values to the Canadian government. Many Canadians are ready for a change, and they are ready to embrace a Liberal government.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand here today to address this motion, because this gives me the opportunity to highlight some of the health portfolio's recent advertising campaigns, to reinforce their importance, and to discuss their impact. Allowing Canadians to know about the things that are going on in the ministry of health and how they will impact their lives is an important thing for us to do.

Today I am going to use my time to paint a clear picture of the Government of Canada's health advertising. I will lay out the government's role in advertising about health, what forms the advertisements take, and how they serve to inform Canadians about matters that are important to their health and safety.

I am going to focus on four recent high-profile health advertising campaigns and will provide the House with the details surrounding those campaigns. Finally, I will show how the health portfolio's advertising regime is not only in line with government processes and spending regulations but also with this government's priority of protecting and maintaining the health of Canadians.

Members will hear today about the broad role of Government of Canada advertising. Advertising is an essential component of the government's commitment to effective communication with the public. We use it to convey critical information about policies and programs. We use it to point Canadians to the services that can help individuals, families, and businesses. We use it to raise awareness about the issues that impact Canadians' health, including infectious diseases, food safety, and the effects of drug abuse. As well, we use it to reach Canadians where they are, in an ever-evolving world of communications.

This is a critical component of the government's priority to keep families and communities healthy and strong. Families and communities are the cornerstone of this great country, and they want a partner in the government. They want to learn about the information and services available to them in a way that is flexible and that meets their needs. It is not always easy for our families and communities to get the timely, practical, and evidence-based information they need to make informed decisions in the way they need it.

I would like to insert here that for the family tax plan we would put in place in our budget, it is important for the families that are eligible to receive that tax break to register with the Government of Canada. Right now, some 200,000 families across this country have not registered, and they have only until Friday to register so that they will get the benefit sent to them in July, as our government wants to do. I urge Canadian families to register with the government so that the family tax package will be available to them to enhance the tax credits they get from the Canadian government.

In the health portfolio, many different forms of advertising can help us meet that challenge. We know that the bulk of federal advertising happens through media buys on television. However, the government has to keep up with the times, and it is doing so in innovative ways. We are reaching out to Canadians outside of their homes and online, in magazines, at the movie theatre, and even in their doctors' offices. We are getting them the messages they need through unique social media tools. I am pleased to note that the health portfolio is leading the way in reaching all Canadians, including families and communities, through many of these innovative and targeted awareness campaigns.

I hearken back to the days of the SARS event and H1N1, the viruses that hit so many Canadians across Canada. When the SARS event happened, we did not have the advantage of being able to use Twitter accounts to let Canadians know about the impact it was having in their own communities.

I have a very good friend, a constituent, who was terribly affected by the SARS virus and still bears the ill effects of that terrible disease that impacted her and her family.

I look at how we can reach into the homes of Canadians today with social media and can get messages to them about the precautions Canadians need to take when these diseases hit our country.

I think of the Ebola crisis that has hit West Africa and how the lack of information for people in those affected countries has impacted so many people there. They have had no information to help them combat the disease and the terrible spread of that disease throughout those countries.

We know that we are able to connect with Canadians through advertising via multiple sources, whether that be magazines, Twitter, other social media now available to us, or, of course, television ads that we are able to purchase.

The government's advertising on issues impacting Canadians' health gives the public many options. Health portfolio advertising provides convenient information where the majority of Canadians are, and they are online. That includes new emerging opportunities through social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and unique partnerships with media, including youth television programming.

Our health portfolio advertising also provides toll-free numbers to call for more information, along with a spectrum of opportunities for Canadians to ask questions and learn more.

Does our health advertising help? I think today of the number of people situated in Nepal who need assistance from the Canadian government. Of course, that is not health advertising. It is advertising we have been doing through Foreign Affairs to help people get connected with the kind of information they need to get the help they need. The advertising Canada is doing to help those people is direct, it is immediate, and it is helpful today.

Does our health advertising help? Absolutely it does. Our research tells us that large percentages of Canadians who see our health advertising take action. It tells us that this advertising achieves higher levels of awareness on important health issues. It tells us that Canadians are able to recall the advertising we promote, and it tells us that our advertising on health issues is engaging Canadians, starting important discussions, and promoting dialogue between the government and the public. These are all critical elements of communicating with Canadians. Nowhere is this more important than in health, because what we want to do is engage Canadians in all aspects of their own health care. We want them to know what Canada is doing and what measures we are taking to assist them.

I want to reflect, though, if I may, on the situation with the former Liberal government, the things we saw it do with Canadians' money, and where that money went. It is unfortunate that we had to have the Gomery inquiry in Canada. The Gomery inquiry took issue with where the money went that the Liberals spent. There was money spent that is still not accounted for. The report from Justice Gomery identified that the money had been taken and was ill-spent. There were people who had charges against them because the money was not found. We know that approximately $40 million of Canadians' money has not been paid back by the Liberal government, and we would like the Liberals to come forward with that money, because it was not money spent advertising for Canadians. It was money that went into the pockets of Liberal partisans.

I would really like the members on the opposite side who have brought this motion forward to explain where that advertising money went. I would like to know if they had tracked that money and if Canadians could have known where that money went. I would like to know why they took Canadian taxpayer dollars and put them directly into the pockets of Liberal Party friends. I would really like to have a straight answer from the members in the Liberal Party. I would like them to tell us if they ever intend to pay back that $40 million they took from taxpayers and put into the pockets of the Liberal Party.

How would the members of the Liberal Party respond to the following findings of the Gomery report? The report states that there is “clear evidence of political involvement in the administration of the Sponsorship Program”. Why does the Liberal Party not come forward and answer that question?

Also, there is “a veil of secrecy surrounding the administration of the Sponsorship Program and an absence of transparency in the contracting process”.

It was the member for Kings—Hants who said that it is really, really sad that we had to have this inquiry. Would the member for Kings—Hants tell us when it is that the Liberal Party is going to pay back that money? He obviously recognizes that the situation took place.

The commission also found the “use of the Sponsorship Program for purposes other than national unity or federal visibility because of a lack of objectives, criteria and guidelines for the Program”. It also found there were “deliberate actions to avoid compliance with federal legislation and policies”. It also found that there were “certain agencies carrying on their payrolls individuals who were, in effect, working on Liberal Party matters”. It also found “the existence of a 'culture of entitlement' among political officials and bureaucrats involved with the Sponsorship Program, including the receipt of monetary and non-monetary benefits”.

We have a responsibility to inform Canadians how their money is being spent. Part of being government means that we have to use a portion of the funds so that Canadians know where the money is being spent. The money that we are spending on advertising is allocated in our budgets. It is there for Canadians to see. We can identify, dollar for dollar, what we do with Canadian taxpayer money. Whether it is telling Canadian taxpayers of the effectiveness of their money in health care programs, or whether it is letting our veterans know what services are available to them so that they can connect with the points of service where they can get assistance, or whether it is advertising on issues in agriculture to let our farmers know what things are available to them for their assistance, these are all areas that affect Canadians directly. We believe that we have a responsibility to let Canadians know what is happening in their Canadian government and what it is that they can do to get information from the Canadian government.

What is the right information for us to give? What can we trust?

The Government of Canada's health and safety campaign helps the public answer those questions. Health Canada led a multi-departmental advertising campaign to raise awareness and to promote access to the wealth of expert information the government has developed in the areas of children's health and safety, for instance.

We have, on our side of the House, a person who is an eminent physician in the Minister of Labour. She has helped to inform the Canadian government on issues where we can spend money more wisely to be of assistance to Canadians to advise on children's issues. She is a pediatric doctor. She has extensive information that can help inform the government.

When we make some of those things into policy, it is important that Canadians know how that can affect the health of their children. The Canadians' health and safety advertising campaign helped to increase Canadian parents' awareness and access to information on their own health and safety and that of their families. It helped to maximize the number of parents who went online to obtain information related to the health and safety of their children, and it helped to increase the number of parents taking simple actions to protect the health and safety of their children.

This campaign ran from 2010 to 2012. As I said, all of that money is accounted for in our budgets, unlike what the former Liberal government did with shovelling money into the pockets of their own Liberal friends.

This particular campaign included various creative television, print, Internet and out-of-home advertisements, including in medical waiting rooms. It resulted in a high recall of the advertising; in fact, it was a recall higher than the Canadian benchmark.

We all know that protecting Canadians from risks to their health is a central role in the health portfolio. The government has been very clear about the importance of underlining the risks of drug use in particular.

The many dangerous and unpredictable consequences of drug abuse make it a very real and widespread public health issue. The Government of Canada has an important responsibility to inform Canadians of the dangers of illicit drug use. It is a critical part of our commitment to the health and safety of Canadians. That is why we invested $30 million over five years between 2007 and 2012 for a national anti-drug strategy to increase knowledge about the harms of illicit drug use and encourage youth to lead a drug-free lifestyle. Again, this is unlike the Liberal Party which wants to legalize marijuana, which I am sure will be in its platform in the upcoming election.

Through our national anti-drug strategy, the government collaborates with provincial and territorial governments, non-governmental organizations and community stakeholders, including health professional organizations, to address the risks and harms related to illicit drug use. Specifically, the strategy is designed to prevent the use of illicit drugs and the abuse of prescription drugs to help with efforts to treat dependency for those who have serious addiction problems and to work towards reducing the production and distribution of illicit drugs. The strategy is led by the Department of Justice with the involvement of 11 federal departments and agencies. Health Canada, for example, leads the strategy's action plans on prevention and treatment, while Public Safety Canada leads the enforcement action plan.

Since 2007, over half a billion dollars have been invested in initiatives under the purview of the national anti-drug strategy. Our advertising under this strategy involved TV and digital advertising, including web and social media. This five-year youth drug prevention mass media campaign was very successful. It helped us reach parents and youth. It increased the percentage of youth deciding not to go on drugs. It increased the number of parents engaged with their teens in discussions about the risks of drug use.

Specifically, one in five youth who recalled the advertising said they did something to address drug prevention in their lives as a result of seeing the ads. The social media aspects of the campaign attracted more than 100,000 Facebook fans, over one million visits to the DrugsNot4Me website and nearly half a million views of the YouTube videos.

I will finish by saying that I firmly believe we have a responsibility to help Canadians understand, specifically in the area of health care. We want to give them helpful and engaging guidance, reassurance and information for the 21st century. They want a partner in their health, a partner that is there when families need it, a partner that provides practical support and clear advice, a partner that keeps up with the times, engaging them when, where and how they need it.

I have appreciated the opportunity to speak on this very important issue. I look forward to questions.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest, but I noticed one area that the member failed to mention, which is the tens of millions of dollars spent by the Conservative government promoting the oil and gas sector in the United States. In one year alone, $40 million was spent on ads in subways.

The Conservatives may be able to defend that by saying they are standing up for a particular sector, but if we take a look at what some of their messages are, we become concerned. One was that Canada is one of the few major suppliers of crude oil in the Gulf coast taking concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is not a lot of truth in that ad. They also stated that America and Canada have the same the greenhouse gas reduction targets. That might have been true a few years ago, but the Prime Minister has been clear that is absolutely not the case anymore. One thing that the Gomery commission pointed out was that it wanted annual mandatory audits and value-for-money evaluations of all advertising campaigns. When that campaign was analyzed, it was found that there was no understanding what the message was, other than that Americans and Canadians were friends.

Could the member speak to what the value for money was in spending taxpayer money promoting one singular sector and not others?

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we use the advertising dollars to let Canadians know the things that we are doing across government sectors. I spoke specifically about health, but I also recognize that we speak to every area. Whether it be the environment, the economy, agriculture, all of these things are departments for which the Government of Canada has a responsibility, and a responsibility to let Canadians know.

Again, I find it very rich that the New Democrats want to point fingers at the Government of Canada when they have been found to have taken $2.7 million illegally, Canadian taxpayer dollars that the New Democrats used for their own partisanship, particularly in Quebec, funnelling money through to Montreal. Every one of those 68 members needs to start paying that money back. Those are Canadian taxpayers' dollars, not theirs.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the comments regarding the Gomery inquiry. I note that the Liberals called that inquiry to hold themselves accountable in front of the country, and they were held accountable. We also paid back the $1.14 million that was directly ascribed to our misconduct. That is a far different record than other parties in this House might claim credit for.

As well, it is important to suggest that the $40 million mark that keeps being bandied about has no basis in fact. Members will note that the Conservatives never make reference to that amount outside of the House of Commons, perhaps because their privilege does not extend outside these four walls.

The member opposite spoke about how critical and how important the advertising is to let people know what good work the current government is ostensibly doing. In Prince Edward Island, the cost of one billboard was almost five times more than the cost for the actual project that was being advertised. All the government did was change the doorknobs to make them accessible to those with disabilities. The billboard cost more than the infrastructure program. I would love to hear the member opposite explain that one.

The member also spoke about the need for health information to be distributed. What we have heard from the commissioner who oversees languages is these communications are only communicated in English. If it is critical information, why is the government not talking to all Canadians? If it is so critical, why is it not talking to people who are francophones?

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we are a country that has two official languages and we advertise in two official languages. It is the responsibility of the Canadian government to do so. I would encourage the member opposite to take a closer look, because we have everything in both official languages.

I would be remiss if I did not point out some of the things that the Gomery inquiry did point out. When he spoke specifically about the Chrétien golf balls, Mr. Chrétien actually made a mockery of the whole process when he held them up and asked if he would call them “small-town cheap”. They were specifically advertising. Why on earth the prime minister of Canada of the day would have golf balls with the names of American presidents on them is beyond the understanding of anybody, but it was paid for with Canadian taxpayer dollars. The Liberals need to pay back the $40 million that they owe Canadian taxpayers.

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my Conservative colleague boasted about the $750 million her government has spent on advertising since coming to power in order to promote its own record. That money belongs to taxpayers. I find that deplorable.

In response to the NDP's concerns, she said that Canadians were provided with good information. A survey by the government concerning the 2012 economic action plan campaign revealed that only 6 out of 1,000 respondents said they consulted the www.actionplan.gc.ca website to find out more after seeing the ads.

Is my colleague pleased that so much taxpayers' money was spent so that an average of 6 out of 1,000 people could benefit from the information?

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know to whom he is speaking because people in my constituency of Newmarket—Aurora tell me how often they are pleased with getting the information from the Canadian government. It is remarkable that he has only spoken to six people, because there are all kinds of pieces of information out there that Canadians are making use of.

I come back to the situation with the NDP who have been found to have taken $2.7 million of Canadian taxpayers dollars. They owe that money back to Canadians. We ask them to come to the table with that money, pay back Canadians and put that money back into the pockets of ordinary Canadians who have worked hard to provide tax dollars to the Canadian government.