Parliament has approved the spending of $10 million for consultations
and communications on the federal government’s agricultural policy
framework, bringing the total to $15 million.
Paul Schubert, recently appointed head of Agriculture Canada’s
communications and consultations division, told MPs that so far, the
department has spent close to $5 million organizing consultation
meetings, advertising and promotion.
He said $1.5 million of that went to the Ottawa consulting firm GPC,
which won a contract to organize and report from the 55 framework
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discussion meetings that were held across the country.
A second contract went to a company called Prime Strategies to organize
the logistics of past and future consultations.
Officials said the firms are hired for their ability to organize
consultations, rather than their specific knowledge of the topic. GPC
does not advertise agriculture as one of its key areas but the
president of the company is Jim Roche, a veteran of Saskatchewan and
federal Liberal politics, as well as the federal bureaucracy.
Ontario Liberal Paul Steckle suggested the consultation costs are too
high and others wondered why the agriculture department needs to hire
outside help.
Steckle said the Commons agriculture committee travelled across the
country studying agriculture last year for a cost of $245,000. It
produced a report recommending a revamping of Canadian farm programs
and many of the ideas were reflected in the final federal proposal.
