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"Harper should take the advice he gave to the Liberals during the sponsorship scandal, 'stop the waste and abuse right now and order a freeze of all discretionary government advertising?' We'll see if he's up to that challenge." - James Clancy, NUPGE National President.
Ottawa (14 Jan. 2014) – Ever wonder how much it costs to run ads during the precious hockey schedule on television? Well, Canadians just found out the hard way: $2.5 million.
Conservative government staged massive ad campaign for job grant program that doesn't exist
As part of the federal government's 2013 budget, it announced the introduction of a job grant program suggesting it would help the rising number of unemployed workers to find meaningful employment in other fields. The catch was that this program required provincial participation and, rather than investing new federal funds into the program, it allocated already existing monies that had been given to the provinces.
In the ensuing days, the provinces balked at the program, refusing to participate. The program has not even been launched yet.
Ads set out to make Conservatives look good and costs continue to mount
The federal government orchestrated a preemptive advertising campaign to highlight a program that would make it look like it is a job creator. The monies specifically came out of a fund designed to do just that, an $111 million fund out of Employment and Social Development Canada.
All ads were focus tested which cost approximately $70,000 through Environics. Television ads were aired in May 2013. Radio ads were also aired across the country at the same time but the costs were not included in the $2.5 million.
As the CBC has reported, the ads received numerous complaints, causing Advertising Standards Canada to ruled the ads as misleading since the program had not been approved.
No program in sight
The provinces are still at odds with the federal government on this program. The biggest obstacle remains the $300 million the Conservatives want to allocate for the program, as its "cost-share" portion. This money is already transferred to the provinces to provide support for unemployed workers through provincially established programs.
Many observers liken this job grant misstep to the federal Liberal sponsorship scandal.
"It's outrageous the Conservatives are using tax dollars to put on a feel good ad campaign to boost the government's ratings," said James Clancy, National President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), "when it should be doing what the campaign says - creating jobs!
"Our unemployment figures and struggling sectors are no surprise when you consider this government is more concerned about its image and re-election than helping Canadians. Canadians would be better served by using that $111 million dollars providing assistance to retraining, apprenticeships, further education, extended unemployment benefits not a personal PR campaign."
"Harper should take the advice he gave to the Liberals during the sponsorship scandal, 'stop the waste and abuse right now and order a freeze of all discretionary government advertising.' We'll see if he's up to that challenge."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE