The Government of Canada is committed to accountability, openness and transparency, and value-for-money. It has taken a
series of concrete steps to reinforce this commitment.
- On December 12, 2003, Treasury Board was re-mandated to focus on
providing more rigorous oversight of government expenditures. This included the re-establishment of the Office of the
Comptroller General of Canada.
- On February 10, 2004, Treasury Board Secretariat announced detailed measures in
response to the Auditor General's report of November 2003, which was tabled on 10 February 2004.
- On February 26, 2004, Jim Judd, Secretary of the Treasury Board, appeared before the
Standing Committee on Public Accounts (House of Commons) to discuss the Auditor General's report of December 2003.
- In March 2004, Treasury Board Secretariat released an action plan to transform and strengthen
public sector management.
- On September 13-20, 2004, a panel of senior Treasury Board Secretariat officials led by Jim Judd, Secretary of the Treasury
Board, appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and
Advertising Activities. The panel's testimony was accompanied by the tabling of a comprehensive evidence
document, outlining the roles, functions and involvement of the Secretariat relevant to the Commission of Inquiry.
- On May 17, 2005, a panel of officials from the Privy Council Office, Public Works and Government Services Canada and the
Treasury Board Secretariat appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities.
A statement of evidence was prepared to provide an overview of advertising
management review and renewal within the Government of Canada during the period 2002-2005, to complement oral testimony before
the Commission and other documents previously entered into evidence.
- In June 2005, the Attorney General of Canada tabled the final submissions of the
Government of Canada to the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities with respect to
the factual-inquiry phase of its mandate. The document is structured in two parts. Part One outlines the core principles of
responsible government, the doctrine of Ministerial responsibility, and the roles and responsibilities of the various
individuals and institutions which were involved in sponsorships and advertising. Part Two describes how the system operated
in the context of sponsorships and advertising based on the evidence before the Commission and identifies problems in how
those activities were managed during the period under review by the Commission. It summarizes the evidence presented to the
Commission concerning the unique combination of factors that came together from 1994 to 2001 and led to these problems, the
audits undertaken by Public Works and Government Services Canada (Public Works) and the Office of the Auditor General, which
identified these problems, and the reforms the Government of Canada put in place to address them.
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