XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, sk.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   CBC -  Posted: Jan 13, 2014   
      
      
   Canada Job Grant ads cost $2.5M for non-existent program   
      
   Commercials were part of $11-million fund to promote government as a job   
   creator   
      
      
   The federal government blanketed the internet with ads and bought pricey   
   TV spots during playoff hockey as part a $2.5-million publicity blitz to   
   promote a skills training program that doesn't yet exist, CBC News has   
   learned.   
      
   TV commercials for the Canada Job Grant often ran twice per game last   
   May during the widely watched Hockey Night in Canada NHL playoff   
   broadcasts on CBC. There were ads on radio, as well.   
      
   “The Canada Job Grant will result in one important thing – a new or   
   better job,” said the reassuring voice-over in the TV ads.   
      
   The problem: The program was never launched and is still on hold.   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   The job grants were announced in the 2013 federal budget, but it called   
   for an agreement with the provinces, which have so far refused to buy in.   
      
   Employment and Social Development Canada spent between $2.5 million and   
   $2.6 million on the ad campaign. That figure excludes radio ads funded   
   by the Finance Department.   
      
   “Spending millions of dollars to advertise a program that doesn't even   
   exist is like flushing tax dollars down the toilet,” Liberal finance   
   critic Scott Brison said.   
      
      
   $11-million publicity push   
      
   CBC News has also learned that that advertising cash came from an   
   $11-million fund set aside last year for Employment and Social   
   Development Canada to promote the government as a job creator.   
      
   Before the Canada Job Grant TV ad went to air, the government paid   
   Environics Research Group almost $70,000 to conduct market research.   
   Focus groups saw a near-final version of the commercial.   
      
   Environics concluded: "The main message was consistently seen as   
   positive and one that inspired hope…. In light of seeing the new ad for   
   the Canada Job Grant, most now believe the Government of Canada is on   
   the right track regarding skills training and the job market in Canada.”   
      
        Government ad spending on economy balloons under Tories​   
      
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   “Their own research suggests that people get a positive impression of   
   the ads,” Queens University political science professor, Jonathan Rose   
   said. “Whether that means they convey accurate information is another   
   story.”   
      
   A government commissioned survey done post-campaign showed only two per   
   cent of the 292 people polled who saw or heard the ad also caught the   
   disclaimer that the program didn't yet exist. It also found only 18 per   
   cent of viewers understood tax dollars paid for the advertising.   
      
      
   Ads ruled misleading   
      
   After receiving numerous viewer complaints, Advertising Standards   
   Canada, the advertising industry's self-regulating body, ruled the TV   
   commercial was misleading because the job grant program hadn't been   
   approved.   
      
   “The commercial omitted relevant information,” ASC concluded in a   
   report. The report didn’t name the government because the ad campaign   
   was already over.   
   Economic Action Plan ads   
      
   The federal government has spent millions on advertisements about its   
   economic programs. (Government of Canada)   
      
   The proposed job grants would give workers $15,000 each for training,   
   with the provinces kicking in one-third of the cost. But provinces have   
   yet to sign on, complaining the proposed program claws back $300 million   
   in federal funds now used to help disadvantaged workers.   
      
   “We do not believe, the way the program is designed, that it will work,”   
   Ontario's Kathleen Wynne said at a premiers meeting last July.   
      
   Quebec threatened to opt out. There’s no word yet on when an agreement   
   might be reached.   
      
   Asked to comment on the ad campaign, a spokesperson for Employment and   
   Social Development Canada said, “The government of Canada’s top   
   priorities are creating jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity.”   
      
      
   Harper blasted Liberals over ads   
      
   In his first question as opposition leader, in 2002, Stephen Harper took   
   the then Liberal government to task over their advertising spending and   
   the emerging sponsorship scandal.   
      
   “Will the prime minister stop the waste and abuse right now and order a   
   freeze of all discretionary government advertising?” he asked in the   
   House of Commons on May 21, 2002.   
      
   During its peak, the Liberal government spent $111 million on   
   advertising, in 2002-2003. Harper's current Conservatives doled out   
   $136.3 million in 2009-2010, their biggest advertising budget yet on record.   
      
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