Public Accounts committee  It really depends on the creative. We're bundling it. As others have said earlier, a campaign can have a lot of creative elements, from a full-scripted storyboard television ad or radio ad to just a banner. If it is just a banner, you can imagine that it doesn't take a lot of tim

Public Accounts committee  No, it's rather efficient. We are talking days. Remember that there is an initial review, so they already are aware of the creative by then.

Public Accounts committee  Perhaps I can help on that side. If there was an advertising campaign, under the federal policy the department would develop a rather elaborate communications plan. If it's subject to review, we would also receive that, and there would be two review processes. Maybe I can add—a

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, perhaps I could quickly add something. As a professional public servant who is subject to a code of conduct about non-partisanship, I have no doubt that I or my team, the reviewers would feel comfortable and supported if we had any concerns about non-partisan advert

Public Accounts committee  It is by campaign, so it's globally. You look at the campaign. Even though it may be small—earlier we were talking about digital advertising—if it's a large campaign but there's a small very low-cost digital, it's still subject to review. What happens is the creative side is done

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I can provide the answer because it is in the report—

Public Accounts committee  All right.

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I can set the record straight. According to the report, from 2015 to 2016, the amount invested decreased from $42 million to $36 million. From 2016 to 2017, it increased from $36 million to $39 million, and from 2017 to 2018, it went up from $39 million to $58 milli

Public Accounts committee  It is a small team, so the training risks are small. However, if people were to move in and out, we would do the targeted training for those individuals as they joined the team. There's deep expertise there and very little churn. We do training constantly, not just for our team

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I may be able to answer that. The process provides for an initial review and a final review. In the initial review, the department submits a fairly comprehensive document on the communication plan. It includes information on the proposed media, the communication str

Public Accounts committee  It sees the ads before they run.

Public Accounts committee  Those that are subject to the group's review are, yes.

Public Accounts committee  Let's not forget that deputy ministers of departments and agencies are responsible for complying with the policy.

Public Accounts committee  Not that I know of.

Public Accounts committee  To my knowledge, there haven't been any. For all changes requested between the initial and final phases, departments complied with the requests.