Government won’t say how much it is spending on its ‘Protect Ontario’ commercials

The Ford government is in the midst of a large-scale advertising campaign, filling both radio and television with commercials that all end with the phrase, “Protect Ontario” — a nod to the Progressive Conservatives’ election slogan.

But how many different commercials the government is currently running and how much they’re costing taxpayers is unclear.

Questions from Global News to the premier’s office asking for a full list of different campaigns, and how much each is budgeted for, have gone unanswered.

Among the campaigns already in circulation is one promoting the government’s vision to develop the mineral-rich Ring of Fire, another touting its plans to build small nuclear reactors and a separate slot broadly discussing building.

There appear to be so many commercials that some think the government could be on course to blast past its commercial budget last year — which was the highest in provincial history.

“It does seem like the path to an even higher ad spend is on track,” Ontario Liberal finance critic Stephanie Bowman told Global News. “It really shows to me they are just pretending to protect Ontario.”

Auditor General Shelley Spence’s annual review of advertising found that in the fiscal year ending in March 2025, the province spent $111.9 million on advertising — $8.4 million more than the year before, which had already set a record.

The largest campaigns run by the government over that period were its U.S. partnership commercial ads, which ran across major American networks, and a continuation of the “It’s Happening Here” commercial domestically.

Bowman said the spending was hard to justify in a year when the government ran a $13.8 billion deficit — an increase of more than 75 per cent on the year before.

“This is just one more example of the taxpayers of Ontario footing the bill for this government to pat itself on the back,” Bowman added.

Premier Doug Ford has defended his government’s advertising campaign, saying it is important people understand how their money is being spent.

He recently suggested the province would launch a health-care commercial campaign as well.

“Get out there and start telling people what we’re doing for health care because we’re doing so much,” he said in March.

“I think we need to put some information out there, be it social media or commercials or whatever it might be, because people deserve to know what we’re doing. People deserve to know how we’re spending their tax dollars, but I’ll tell you, we’re spending a fortune right now (on health care).”

Previously, the government has said the cost of each campaign will be revealed through the annual public accounts process — but won’t be proactively disclosed.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles accused the government of wasting public money to boost its own reputation.

“Premier Ford and his team aren’t the prudent fiscal managers that they pretend to be,” she said in a statement.

“How do they square that with sinking billions into ridiculous vanity projects, millions into partisan ads to gaslight the people, while running Ontario into a historic deficit, while our hospitals and schools have to beg for help?
 The distance between what the Ford government says and what they do can be measured in kilometres.”

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