Ontario spent a record $111.9 million on government advertising in a single fiscal year. The Auditor General flagged $43 million as designed to foster a positive impression of the governing party. Every dollar was legal — and that’s the structural problem. The rules permit what the public assumes they prevent.
Read the full analysis, sources, and counter-arguments ↓The Ontario government spent $111.9 million on advertising in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025 — the highest amount ever recorded by the province. This is an $8.4 million increase over the previous year, which was itself the previous historic high.
The Auditor General's 2024–25 Annual Report found that 38% of this spending — roughly $43 million — went toward campaigns like "It's Happening Here" that she concluded were designed to foster a "positive impression" of the government rather than provide essential information about programs or services. A further $40.1 million was spent on US-focused television commercials during trade negotiations.
- In FY2024–25, the Ontario government spent $111.9 million on advertising, the highest amount ever recorded. This represents an $8.4 million increase over the previous year's record. (Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, 2024 Annual Report: Review of Government Advertising, December 2, 2025.)
- The Auditor General found that 38% of the total — roughly $43 million — went toward campaigns she concluded were designed to foster a "positive impression" of the government rather than deliver essential program or service information. (Ibid.)
- Approximately $40.1 million of the total was spent on US-focused television advertising during cross-border trade negotiations. (Ibid.)
- The government's ability to run the $43 million in domestic "positive impression" ads is entirely legal under the current Government Advertising Act. (Ibid.)
- In 2015, the then-Liberal government amended the Government Advertising Act, removing the Auditor General's discretionary power to veto publicly funded ads she deemed partisan. (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Government Advertising Act, 2015 amendments.)
- The current Conservative government severely criticized this change while in opposition and promised in 2018 to restore the stricter rules. It has retained the looser framework. (Ontario PC Party platform, 2018; subsequent legislative record.)
The structural gap
The mechanism here is straightforward: because the statutory definition of "partisan" advertising was narrowed in 2015, an incumbent government of any party can legally deploy tens of millions in public funds for self-promotion. The Auditor General retains the power to review and report on advertising after the fact, but the independent veto — the ability to block an ad campaign before it runs — no longer exists.
The current government promised to restore that veto. It has not.
Critics of the government's ad spending may omit that $40.1 million of the record total was directed at US audiences to protect Ontario's trade interests during tariff threats — not at domestic voters. This is a materially different use of public advertising dollars than pre-election domestic messaging, and collapsing the two categories into a single outrage figure obscures the distinction.
Supporters of the government may omit that even after subtracting the US trade spending, domestic ad spending still reached historically elevated levels in the months leading up to the February 2025 provincial election. The "It's Happening Here" campaign was running on Ontario television screens while voters were forming impressions about the incumbent — and the Auditor General explicitly flagged it as designed to do exactly that.
The government is operating within rules that were weakened by a previous government and that it explicitly promised to strengthen. By retaining the looser framework, the current government is exploiting a structural loophole that allows public funds to function as a de facto pre-election campaign budget, forcing taxpayers to finance the incumbent party's political messaging.
Counter-interpretation: In a fragmented media landscape and during critical cross-border trade negotiations, a government must spend aggressively to ensure its economic messaging reaches the public and foreign partners. Informing Ontarians and US decision-makers about industrial successes in mining, auto manufacturing, and infrastructure is a legitimate function of the state — not partisan advertising.
- If the government fulfills its 2018 promise to repeal the 2015 amendments to the Government Advertising Act and restores the Auditor General's absolute veto power over partisan ads, the structural loophole would be closed.
- If subsequent fiscal year ad spending drops significantly and the Auditor General finds the proportion of "positive impression" campaigns has materially decreased, it would indicate the government self-corrected without legislative change.
Primary Sources
- Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, "2024 Annual Report: Review of Government Advertising" (Published December 2, 2025). Archived copy; date accessed February 26, 2026.
- Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Government Advertising Act, 2004 — 2015 amendments removing Auditor General veto power.
- Ontario PC Party, 2018 platform commitment to restore Auditor General advertising oversight.
Do you have internal Cabinet Office communications regarding the media buying strategy for the "It's Happening Here" campaign? We welcome corrections, additional context, and contrary evidence. Contact: tips@thereceipts.ca