Government spending $13.5-million in ad blitz in April and May

theglobeandmail.com
April 27, 2015
By Bruce Cheadle

The Conservative government has booked $13.5-million for an all-out, co-ordinated blitz in April and May to advertise its 2015 pre-election budget.

The push, detailed in internal government documents obtained by The Canadian Press, builds on existing Finance Canada and Canada Revenue Agency campaigns to promote Conservative tax measures, both past and proposed - the backbone of the Harper government’s re-election strategy.

“Phase VIII” of a CRA campaign titled Tax Relief Measures comes with a $6-million budget this fiscal year and is described as a “continuation of the 2014-15 ad campaign.”

The ad buy is listed as a bulk purchase of TV for April, a “heavy-up” April TV buy and an “April 2015 NHL (TV)” buy.

Playoff hockey fans will have seen the publicly funded campaign.

“The intention is to encourage taxpayers to claim the tax-relief measures to which they may be entitled and file their tax returns online and on time,” says the internal government ad description.

It comes as Finance Canada wages a $7.5-million campaign broadly described in a February document as illustrating how the budget “is on track to positioning Canada for success in the 21st century global economy through a series of measures.”

How will the government illustrate that success? By promoting tax benefits, the internal government campaign description suggests.

Two radio ads under the “EAP Jobs and Growth Radio campaign (Winter 2015)” show that the April spots “consist of a similar message as the CRA’s tax filing campaign which is currently on air via TV, Internet and print.”

In all, Finance Canada and the tax agency have booked $13.5-million in 2015-16 to promote last week’s federal budget. A federal election must be held by Oct. 19.

A Finance Canada spokesman stressed the $7.5-million is for the whole year, while refusing to break out the cost of the current ad campaign.

The pocketbook-focused ads are augmented this month by a heavy buy of military recruitment ads, which dovetail with the Conservative government’s anti-terrorism and security messaging. The cost of the National Defence department ad campaign for 2015-16 is not yet known.

The spring ad blitz comes amid increasingly vocal opposition to the Harper government’s use of taxpayer-funded advertising.

The Liberal party used an opposition day motion Monday to debate ending “wasteful spending on partisan government ads.”

A private member’s bill by Liberal MP David McGuinty proposes to have all government advertising cleared in advance by the Auditor-General’s office to ensure it is informative and non-partisan.