Marit Stiles re-introduces Conservative legislation to ban the use of taxpayer dollars on partisan advertising

QUEEN’S PARK – Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition NDP, re-introduced legislation to ban the use of taxpayer dollars for partisan advertising. Last month, CBC revealed that the Ford government’s “it’s happening here” ads cost taxpayers $40 million.

“This is a clear abuse of taxpayer dollars,” said Stiles. “Premier Ford and his government are using people’s hard-earned tax dollars to run partisan puff pieces about themselves, instead of investing in our province. $40 million could start opening shuttered emergency rooms, bring back health care services to rural communities, and start delivering on the future that Ontario deserves.

“With this motion, we could fix the culture of wasting taxpayer dollars on partisan ads started by the Liberals. People need their government to put every dollar into the things that matter. People don’t need propaganda; they need leaders who put them first.”

In 2015, the Liberal government changed the law to allow taxpayer funded partisan ads ahead of the election. At the time, Conservative MPP, and now Deputy Premier, Sylvia Jones, tabled the exact same legislation as Stiles to reverse those changes and restore the Auditor General’s authority to review and approve government advertising. Doug Ford even promised to make the change in his 2018 Conservative party platform.

According to the Auditor General’s annual 2023 report, the government spent about $25 million in 2022-23 on ads the auditor general believes are partisan.