Trudeau government’s pandemic advertising to surpass $120 MILLION

Ken MacKillop of the Privy Council Office said ads were effective in getting "the news to Canadians," saying: “We are likely to spend about $120 million in advertising from the government this year," using the ads to "actually get the news to Canadians,” according to Blacklock's Reporter.

That figure easily surpasses last year's federal advertising budget of $58.6 million, according to the Annual Report on Government of Canada Advertising Activities. MacKillop added that $2.9 million was being used for the Privy Council Office COVID-19 Response Team.

While MacKillop credited the government's ads with promoting social distancing, Conservative MP Kelly McCauley pointed out that Canadians would receive this information, for free, without the government's massive advertising budget.

“It’s a lot of money, and everyone knows about social distancing. Everyone knows there is Covid going on. Do you find it justifiable to spend the $50 million on something every single person knows about?"

She went on to say that "I think because it’s on the news cycle 24 hours a day. I’m asking, do you think this is a fair use of taxpayers’ money to advertise about something that every single person in the entire world knows is going on right now" asked McCauley.

MacKillop responded: “I do think it’s worth the money to advertise to Canadians on health and safety and what we’re asking them to do. Again, the virus has been unpredictable.”

Federal advertising costs continue to skyrocket, as last year's election-year advertising saw a 49 percent increase "over the previous year’s $39.2 million ad budget."