LANG Committee Report

Introduction: Legislative and political obligations

Governments must communicate regularly with their citizens. What is known as “government advertising” encompasses the communications activities used by governments to inform citizens about the services, programs, and policies initiated for them, about their rights and responsibilities, or about dangers or risks to public health, safety, and the environment. In 2002-2003, the Government of Canada spent more than $110 million on advertising activities, making it one of the largest advertisers in the country. ¹

Responsibility for government advertising is shared among a number of institutions and agencies. Although individual departments identify their advertising needs based on their program priorities, advertising activities are coordinated by four central agencies. The Privy Council Office produces the government’s annual advertising plan and advises departments and agencies on government priorities to ensure they are reflected in their own advertising activities. The Treasury Board performs important duties involving monitoring and evaluating the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada. Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) manages the contracting process and issues contracts to advertising agencies. Finally, until very recently, Communication Canada provided communications services to ensure consistency with all government policies and priorities.

When the Government of Canada uses advertising to communicate with its citizens, it must comply with the policies and legislation on government advertising in Canada, including the Official Languages Act and the language provisions in Treasury Board’s communications policies. The main legislative provisions and other administrative requirements regarding official languages are described below.

Section 11 of the Official Languages Act states that a “notice, advertisement or other matter that is required or authorized by or pursuant to an Act of Parliament to be published by or under the authority of a federal institution primarily for the information of members of the public shall, (a) wherever possible, be printed in one of the official languages in at least one publication in general circulation within each region where the matter applies that appears wholly or mainly in that language and in the other official language in at least one publication in general circulation within each region where the matter applies that appears wholly or mainly in that other language; and (b) where there is no publication in general circulation within a region where the matter applies that appears wholly or mainly in English or no such publication that appears wholly or mainly in French, be printed in both official languages in at least one publication in general circulation within that region.”²

Section 30 in Part IV of the Act clarifies section 11 by requiring federal institutions to use “such media of communication as will reach members of the public in the official language of their choice in an effective and efficient manner that is consistent with the purposes of this Act.”³

Furthermore, the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada sets out the requirements that federal institutions must meet in terms of communications and government advertising. Policy Requirement No. 4 stipulates that “institutions must respect the equality of status of the two official languages as established by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and given effect through the Official Languages Act and the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations."⁴

Policy Requirement No. 23 of the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada states clearly that the government must use the media organs that are the most appropriate for reaching official-language minority communities:

… institutions must respect the Government of Canada’s commitment, stated in Part VII of the Act, to enhance the vitality of official-language minority communities. Advertising plans and campaigns must address the needs, concerns and language preferences of such communities. Media buys must include the purchase of advertising space and time in organs serving a community’s official-language minority, be it English or French. ⁵

The reader is reminded that Part VII is a key element of the 1988 Official Languages Act, setting out the government’s commitment to “(a) enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and (b) fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.”⁶ All institutions subject to the Official Languages Act must comply with Part VII.

Reaction of official-language minority media to the moratorium on government advertising

On 15 March 2004, the Honourable Stephen Owen, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, announced a moratorium on government advertising activities.⁷ The following measures were taken to strengthen management of government advertising:

Four associations operating in the communications field expressed their concerns about the negative impact that the government advertising management review would have on their advertising revenues and on their very survival.

The Quebec Community Newspapers Association (QCNA) wrote to the Committee to share its concerns about the effect of the moratorium on the operations of 32 official-language minority newspapers in Quebec. Executive Director Greg Duncan anticipated that the moratorium on government advertising activity would lead to a shortfall of $115,000 in the last three months of the 2003-2004 fiscal year. Moreover, the freeze on advertising spending would penalize 700,000 weekly readers, who expect the papers to carry vital messages from the Government of Canada.⁸

In terms of francophone minorities, the Association de la presse francophone (APF), the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC du Canada) and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA du Canada) appeared before the Committee and expressed the same views as the QCNA.

For the Association de la presse francophone, the moratorium announced by the Government of Canada would have a negative impact on the Association’s 26 weekly and bimonthly French-language newspapers outside of Quebec. These print media derived annual incomes of about $1 million from federal government advertising. In the short term, the 15% reduction would result in an advertising revenue shortfall of some $150,000 dollars. In the long term, the very survival of some of these publications would be at stake.⁹

For their part, the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC du Canada) believed that the moratorium would be detrimental to Francophone community radio stations outside Quebec. The 18 stations currently on the air and the others under construction would be facing major financial hurdles over the coming months. These radio stations received income from fundraising campaigns, grants and the sale of local and national advertising (see Table 1).

ARC du Canada explained to Committee members that the moratorium had undermined an already difficult situation with the Government of Canada in regard to media placements. In the words of ARC du Canada, the network of Francophone minority community radio stations was “not receiving its fair share of the federal government’s advertising budget.” ¹⁰ According to ARC du Canada, the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada dealt with them according to the same criteria it uses for large private companies operating in the communications field. However, community radio stations belong to (or are themselves) non-profit organizations first and foremost that provide information services to francophone minority communities. According to ARC du Canada, the Department does not want to be perceived as favouring one linguistic group over another.¹¹

The FCFA du Canada expressed the same concerns as the APF and ARC du Canada, and said that francophone community media had become an important instrument for strengthening collective identity and that they were indispensable partners in any national initiative aimed at supporting the development of the francophone and Acadian minority communities.¹² They enabled francophone minority communities to become better known by all francophones and francophiles in Canada.

To remedy the situation, ARC du Canada, the APF and the FCFA du Canada put forward the following solutions for consideration:

One month later, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, the Honourable Stephen Owen, appeared before the Standing Committee on Official Languages to give reasons for his department’s decisions and to respond to the requests from the associations.¹³ First, he pointed out that, over the last two years, $2.3 million were invested in the minority media, or 1.6% of the total advertising budget.¹⁴ The Minister also said that the 15% reduction applied only to media placement,¹⁵ i.e. to the purchase of advertising space and time for government advertisements. He also explained that the 15% cut applied to the 2002-2003 budget of $83 million, not the 2003-2004 budget of $57 million. Consequently, the total investment in government advertising will be $70.55 million until 2006-2007, which according to Mr. Owen will have only a minimal impact on the advertising income received by minority media.

Table 2: Reduction in federal spending on advertising,
2002-2007