Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  That's not entirely correct, no. Oftentimes, the department will get... In our department, for instance, there are many questions that are program oriented, that are simply asking a question; for instance, how many bricks are there in the Peace Tower? That would generally go to the department; they often deal with more program-oriented questions.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, the reporter was provided with the accurate cost as soon as the ad campaign was finished and was provided it in a more than timely manner.

Information & Ethics committee  That's when the reporter came back and asked for the information. Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  I believe the latest version of the guidelines available is from 2008, so it's relatively recent.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, the reporter asked for costs. There were no costs available at the time. And that's why there was an accurate cost provided following the ad campaign.

Information & Ethics committee  With advertising campaigns, the actual final, final cost is available 90 days later, when it's posted on the website. That's why, in fact, we took this measure: because we wanted to provide the most accurate costs we could at the time. Then, we actually, in fact, instead of telling the reporter to wait for it to be posted online...we took the step to provide him with the information in a very timely manner, a great deal of time before it was actually going to be going up on the website.

Information & Ethics committee  The minister.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, the rules, the guidelines for ministerial staff, are disclosed in the “Policies and Guidelines for Ministers' Offices”, which is available online. Other than that... And those guidelines are pretty clear on your rules and responsibilities as a ministerial staffer.

Information & Ethics committee  That would be speculation on my part. We'll certainly look at it when we get back to the office. I'm unaware of how long that would take.

Information & Ethics committee  It's not possible for me to give the committee a timeline at this point. I'm sorry.

Information & Ethics committee  Sure.

Information & Ethics committee  Media inquiries are often determined...whether the minister's office or the department responds is often based on whether they're deemed political, whether they're deemed as pertaining to the minister, for instance. Oftentimes that is...whether I would respond on the minister's behalf, or the minister responds, or a departmental official would respond.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm unaware of the rules pertaining to that, so I'll have to...