After learning that Conservative MPs knowingly broke government advertising rules by forging ahead with their hyper-partisan Economic Action Plan website (EAP), Liberals presented the Conservative Party with an invoice to repay taxpayers the jaw-dropping $45 million they spent on partisan advertising.
The Liberal Party also demanded that the government take down the offending website, and pledged to bring the matter before the House of Commons Government Operations Committee as soon as possible.
“In their typical ‘I-make-the-rules’ fashion, Harper’s Conservatives knowingly broke Treasury Board guidelines, breaking government standards for websites and advertising,” said Liberal Treasury Board Critic Siobhan Coady. “The Conservatives were advised that this was a violation, but plowed ahead anyway in order to blur the line between government advertising – paid for by taxpayers – and Conservative propaganda.”
According to federal documents obtained by The Canadian Press, bureaucrats advised that the EAP website – in the exact hue of Conservative blue and at one point featuring a video of Stephen Harper playing piano – broke Treasury Board rules. However, the website was given the green light by then-Treasury Board President Vic Toews despite these objections.
“Our party has long spoken out against this abuse of taxpayer dollars for partisan purposes,” said Ms. Coady. “In fact, we wrote the Treasury Board in October 2009 to complain about how this website and related advertising broke their own rules – and now we learn that two weeks after our complaint the Conservatives just gave themselves an exemption.”
On October 8, 2009, Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay wrote to the Treasury Board to express serious concern about how the partisan nature of the Conservative government’s taxpayer-funded advertising campaign contravened Treasury Board policies. On October 20, 2009 Mr. Toews approved an exemption to the rules.
“Conservative arrogance and contempt for public institutions is astounding,” said Ms. Coady. “They knew they were breaking long-standing rules, and justified their exemption with a pledge to change the rules after the fact. We know that more than a year after the exemption, the original rules remain in place, as does the offending website – and the Conservatives must take it down.”
The Conservative government has tripled spending on advertising compared to the previous Liberal government to $130 million – $45 million of which was spent on the EAP.
“The Conservatives must repay Canadian taxpayers the $45 million spent on this partisan advertising. We will be referring the matter to the Government Operations committee for further examination.”
“Canadians deserve better than a prime minister who wastes their hard-earned tax dollars on flashy ad campaigns and flaunts the rules designed to ensure that Canadian tax dollars are spent ethically,” concluded Ms. Coady.
