Toronto, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the Ford government cut government advertising after Auditor General Shelley Spence found most of the campaigns are partisan.

“Families are struggling and shouldn’t see their hard-earned tax dollars blown on TV ads to make the government look good,” said CTF Ontario Director Jay Goldberg. “The Ford government needs to cut spending on government advertising.”

Spence noted in her report that the government’s two most expensive advertising campaigns, which made up a combined $66.9 million, were flagged by her office because “we assessed their primary purpose as promoting the governing party.”

For comparison’s sake, just $7 million was spent last year on advertising relating to public health.

Spence also found that the governing party-promoting ads ran in some of the most expensive slots, including during Hockey Night in Canada and the Super Bowl.

The Ford government also spent a record amount of money on government advertising last year at $103.5 million, triple what was spent the year prior. Government advertising spending was also tens of millions of dollars higher last year than it was during the pandemic.

“It’s indefensible that the government is spending more on advertising today than it did during the height of the pandemic,” said Goldberg. “Advertising that’s solely designed to make the government look good needs to be cut.

“It’s clear legislation must be changed to tighten the rules and make sure this kind of partisan advertising never again happens on the public dime.”