An analysis of payments to suppliers in the 2013-2014 Public Accounts shows the BC Liberals stayed true to tradition and cut spending on government advertising and public relations after the party won re-election.
The official annual spending reports, released July 15, showed Government Communications and Public Engagement spent $33.491 million, about $2.6 million less than its $36.147 million department budget, for the year ended March 31, 2014. The total for advertising production and placement in the fiscal year, according to the Ministry of Finance, was $9.43 million. By comparison, the government unleashed a $16.6 million B.C. Jobs Plan ad blitz leading up to the election.
B.C. government official media buyer Vizeum Canada billed $18.98 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, but last year only $3.491 million. Dare Digital billed $8,975,240 in 2012-2013, but just $91,783 last year.
On the flipside, FCV Technologies, which wasn’t listed in 2012, more than doubled from $1,690,044 in 2012-2013 to $3,656,958 last year. Kimbo Design was not a supplier in 2012-2013, but was paid $666,905 last year. It designed Premier Christy Clark’s print materials and website for her 2011 leadership win.
The election-related, boom and bust in B.C. government communications is nothing new.
During its last fiscal year in office, the NDP government under Premier Ujjal Dosanjh spent $21.381 million in 2000-2001, almost $1 million over budget.
When Gordon Campbell led the Liberals into power and became premier, he slashed spending the following fiscal year to $5.276 million. By 2004-2005, however, the BC Liberals unleashed a pre-election image advertising onslaught and blew their budget by $9.5 million, coming in at $21.617 million.
Spending fell the following year to $8.365 million. The trend continued before and after the 2009 election: the Liberals spent $28.311 million and then cut back to $3.587 million.
The 2011-2012 fiscal year was an anomaly, when the $32.789 million spent was substantially over the $19.39 million budget. Plans to the polls in October 2011 under then-new leader Clark, were scrapped when the Harmonized Sales Tax was defeated in an August 2011 referendum. The NDP slammed the Liberals in 2013 for the B.C. Jobs Plan campaign. The NDP argued that it was a partisan campaign using taxpayer dollars to improve the Liberals’ image before the election, when the Liberals trailed the NDP in public opinion polls.
In Ontario, partisan government advertising is prohibited by law and it is up to that province’s auditor general to approve the contents of government campaigns.
