The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Premier Doug Ford to cut government advertising, as the government spent a record-high $117 million on ads in 2025-26.

“The Ford government is flooding taxpayers with a bunch of advertisements to promote itself,” said Noah Jarvis, CTF Ontario Director. “Taxpayers aren’t benefitting from the explosion in advertising spending, but we’re the ones picking up the tab.”

The Ford government spent $117 million on advertisements in 2025-26, according to freedom of information recordsreleased to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The Ford government beat the previous spending record of $111.9 million from 2024-25. The Ford government’s ad spending is more than double the Wynne government’s record-high of $62.5 million in 2017-18.

Much of the spending would have broken the government’s old and stricter rules restricting the use of taxpayer money for partisan advertisements.

The Ford government spent $52 million on five “Protect Ontario” ad campaigns across four ministries. The Progressive Conservatives used the slogan “Protect Ontario” during the 2025 provincial election campaign.

The government also extended several campaigns highlighted by the auditor general as violating old advertising rules.

The auditor general flagged the government’s “Affordability” advertisements, claiming they were “designed to improve Ontarians’ impression of the state of Ontario, the subtext of which promotes the governing party.”

Despite this, the Ford government spent $1.8 million on its “Affordability” ad campaign.

Other campaigns flagged by the auditor general and extended by the Ford government include the “Healthcare Services” campaign, the “Skilled Trades” campaign, and the “It’s Happening Here” campaign, renamed to the “Protect Ontario: Energy” campaign. These campaigns cost nearly $14 million.

The previous Liberal government changed the Government Advertising Act in 2015 that restricted partisan advertising with taxpayer money and empowered the auditor general to review the ads.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the Ford government to slash its advertising budget and to restore the pre-2015 government advertising rules.

“The Ford government’s ad spending is enough to build almost six elementary schools but was instead spent on self-promotion,” Jarvis said. “Ford needs to stop the self-promotional advertising, cut the ad budget, and bring back rules to restrict partisan advertising.”