A local member of the Ontario legislature believes taxpayers have no place paying for partisan advertisements.
A bill introduced by Essex MPP Taras Natyshak was given first reading at Queen's Park Wednesday. It is a reintroduction of a similar bill brought forth two years by the then-opposition Progressive Conservatives, which would stop letting the government use public money to fund ads touting its programs and views. Natyshak said he believes the bill was introduced at that time to curb what he thought was a blatant effort by the Liberals to tout themselves.
“In 2015, the Wynne Liberals gutted the rules surrounding government advertising, removing the auditor general’s power to veto ads that use public money to promote the government of the day," said Natyshak in a media release. "Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government wanted to waste your dollars to promote themselves, and they definitely did.”
Natyshak said he is not concerned about the current PC-majority government providing resistance, considering the fact that the Conservatives had introduced the original legislation in the first place.
"I invite my Conservative colleagues to ensure that money that comes from hardworking Ontarians doesn’t get diverted to pay for whatever self-serving commercials or gas-pump stickers the government of the day has cooked up to help itself," said Natyshak, adding that anyone who would oppose the bill would be hypocritical.
The bill will get second reading and debate at Queen's Park on May 9.
