While Many Of Us Struggle, Ford Gov. Blows Tens-Of Millions Of Dollars Of Our Tax Money On Self-Serving Ads

“Doug Ford is trying to gaslight the people of our province with their own money. Never has it been harder to get good jobs, afford a home, or pay for groceries. People don’t need propaganda. They need a government that works.” – Marit, Ontario’s Official Opposition Leader

News from Ontario’s Official Opposition, NDP Leader Marit Stiles

Posted December 3^rd, 2025 on Niagara At Large

Doug Draper, at work way back when newspapers still had newsrooms

A Brief Foreword from Doug Draper at Niagara At Large – Here we are, living through some pretty tough times, with many among us having one hell of a hard time of it just paying the bills.

For at least three generations now, it has hardly ever been this difficult – going back to at least to the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War – for young people to find a decent job and buy a home of their own.

Homelessness is growing by leaps and bounds and so are lines at food banks.

And yet, according to an annual report released this December 2^nd, 2025 by the Auditor General of Ontario, here also is a Ford government at Queen’s Park,  made up of big-C Conservatives who always like to brag about how fiscally responsible they are  compared to other public bodies like our school boards and conservation authorities, spending tens-of-millions of our tax dollars on ads, marinated in B.S., about what a great job it is doing.

As a new report by Ontario’s Auditor General concluded, “Government advertising spending hit a record high of $111.9 in fiscal 2024/25, of which 38 per cent would not have passed our Office’s review under the old act” which was changed by the Ford government so that it could get away with this disgraceful use of tax dollars that should be going to vital services from people across our province.

This is beyond disgusting and if you don’t like it, one thing you can do right now is to make your feelings known to the only Ford government MPP in our Niagara Region at the moment, Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff. To contact him, click on https://samoosterhoffmpp.ca/contact/

Now here is the Ontario Official Opposition Party’s News Release on this Auditors Report –

QUEEN’S PARK — Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition, is calling out the Ford government for spending more tax dollars than any other government ever on advertising in the lead up to the snap election.

In her annual report, the Auditor General, Shelly Spence, flagged the rising price-tag of government advertising and dwindling access to primary care:

“Taxpayer-funded propaganda, it’s all happening here,” said Stiles. “Doug Ford spent over $110 million to polish his own image and tell Ontarians that everything is just great. Meanwhile, Ontarians struggle to find work and pay for their groceries. It’s remarkably out of touch.”

“Imagine you’re in a 22-hour wait in the emergency room, and on the TV, you see an ad telling you how great things are in Ontario.

“Doug Ford is trying to gaslight the people of our province with their own money. Never has it been harder to get good jobs, afford a home, or pay for groceries. People don’t need propaganda. They need a government that works.”

BACKGROUND:

• * Doug Ford spent $111.7 million on government advertising in the lead-up to the snap provincial election in 2025.
• * The Auditor General found in her latest report that they spent $43 million on partisan ads designed to improve Ontarians’ impressions of the province’s current state, and by extension, the Conservative party.
• * In 2015, the Liberal government changed the law to allow taxpayer funded partisan ads ahead of the election.
• * At the time, Conservative MPP, and now Deputy Premier, Sylvia Jones, tabled a bill to reverse those changes and restore the Auditor General’s authority to review and approve government advertising.
• * Doug Ford even promised to make the change in his 2018 Conservative party platform.

For  more on the 2025 Auditor General of Ontario’s report, click on – https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/news/25_newsreleases/nr_AR_en25-04.pdf 

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