The Canadian Press
OTTAWA—The federal government no longer will be able to advertise policy measures that have not yet been adopted by Parliament under new rules designed to curb partisanship in taxpayer-funded ads.
The Liberal government is setting up interim measures that fall short of its election platform promise to create an independent ad officer housed in the office of the federal auditor general.
But it says a $65,000 contract to have Advertising Standards Canada—the private ad industry’s self-regulating body—review all government ads will help curb partisan excesses, with all such reports made public.
The Liberals also have drawn up new rules for government ads, including stopping all government advertising for 90 days before the fixed election date, barring the image, voices, or names of government members from appearing in ads, and blocking the use of party colours.
The previous Conservative government was criticized for what was considered partisan government advertising, including spending millions of dollars promoting measures that had not been passed by Parliament and, in at least one case, still were to be negotiated with the provinces.
