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Government Contracts December 4th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, a question of that detail requires information that could perhaps be more adequately provided through the order paper, but in the interests of transparency, which is always of paramount concern for me, if the hon. gentleman would like to provide me with the details that he is looking for, I will do my very best to provide him with that information.
Government Contracts December 4th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as I have reported to the House before, the government took prompt action during the summer to make sure that the relationship between the government and any advertising agency whose accounts were impugned was terminated. That action has in fact been taken.
Government Contracts December 4th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely no second audit. There was a second sampling done after the first, which confirmed the first findings. We went through all of the ATIP release procedures to provide this information to the public, to provide the information to Canadians, and it was indeed the advice of the RCMP that we could not release it. If the RCMP changes that advice, I will release it.
National Defence December 2nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of National Defence has explained, this was not an untendered contract. In fact it is the extension of an existing contract while a formal request for proposals for a competitive process can be put together.
If we had not extended the contract, then a very valuable economic development and national defence project in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba would have closed. We have acted to defend the interests of Manitobans.
Government Advertising November 29th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to provide the normal details with respect to this matter to the hon. gentleman in response to an Order Paper question. I will provide him with the full breakdown. I would report that we have our advertising arrangements with the CFL on a full annual basis, not just the Grey Cup game, but throughout the year. I am happy to report as well that the contract was concluded this year without the assistance of an external advertising agency.
Government Contracts November 27th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, if we had more than one agency of record we would not have an agency of record. We need to have one control point where the media buy is made. Other advertising agencies handle the creative work for departments and do the campaign design but we need one control point where that buy comes through, and that is the agency of record which receives a low commission of approximately 3%, which reflects the value of the work it does and does not in fact reflect the creative work.
Government Contracts November 27th, 2002
Because, Mr. Speaker, all the relevant information is publicly available.
An agency of record acts on behalf of all the government to have one control point where all the advertising is placed so that it can be measured and competed for properly. All the dollar value appears to go through one agency but in fact that agency of record does not get the normal commercial rate. That agency of record gets 3.25%, which is for the placement of the media buy and nothing more.
Government Contracts November 27th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the compliment on my youthful exuberance, but I am happy to say that unlike the hon. gentleman across the way and the opposition, Canadians have responded warmly and generously, saying that they appreciate the action that has been taken. We got to the bottom of a problem, we have fixed it and put it on a solid foundation for the future.
Government Contracts November 27th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman clearly does not understand the role or the function of an agency of record. There is one agency of record for the Government of Canada. That is Media/I.D.A. It won that position in a competition four years ago and its function is to place all of the radio, television and newspaper buys for the entire Government of Canada through a centralized control point. It obviously does not receive the full value of the advertising. It only receives the 3% commission.
Government Contracts November 26th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman can try as he might to create misinformation or disinformation but the fact remains that wherever a firm was involved in questionable transactions that resulted in a reference to the RCMP, the business flow stopped to that firm, plus any outstanding moneys were held back. Indeed, the Government of Canada is holding back $3.9 million to make sure that the taxpayers of the country are kept whole.