Ford Spent $112 Million on Government Ads Last Year. Ford Won’t Say What This Year’s Campaign Costs.

The Ontario government is running a large-scale advertising campaign across radio, television, and social media. Every commercial ends with the same phrase: “Protect Ontario” — which also happens to be the Progressive Conservatives’ election slogan. There are ads for the Ring of Fire. Ads for small nuclear reactors. Ads for building. The campaign is so saturated that opposition parties believe the government is on track to exceed last year’s record spending.¹

How much is it costing? The government will not say. Global News asked the premier’s office for a full list of campaigns and their budgets. The questions went unanswered. The government’s position is that the cost of each campaign will be disclosed through the annual public accounts process — meaning taxpayers will find out what was spent months after it was spent, with no opportunity for public scrutiny during the campaign itself.

The baseline is already extraordinary. Auditor General Shelley Spence found that in the fiscal year ending March 2025, Ontario spent $111.9 million on government advertising — $8.4 million more than the previous year, which had itself set a provincial record. Ontario now spends more on government advertising than any province in Canadian history. The largest campaigns in that period were the U.S. anti-tariff ads and the domestic “It’s Happening Here” campaign.²

Liberal finance critic Stephanie Bowman said the spending is hard to justify in a year when the government ran a $13.8-billion deficit — a 75% increase over the year before. “This is just one more example of the taxpayers of Ontario footing the bill for this government to pat itself on the back,” she said.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles was more direct: “How do they square that with sinking billions into ridiculous vanity projects, millions into partisan ads to gaslight the people, while running Ontario into a historic deficit, while our hospitals and schools have to beg for help?”³

The U.S. ad campaign is the case study in what happens when Ford’s advertising ambitions collide with reality. In October 2025, Ford’s government launched a $75-million anti-tariff advertising blitz on American television, featuring archival footage of Ronald Reagan warning that tariffs hurt American workers. The ads ran on Fox News, Newsmax, and during the World Series. Ford’s office said the campaign was planned to run through the end of January 2026.⁴

It lasted less than two weeks. Trump saw the ad and was furious. He accused Canada of running a “fake” commercial, posted that “ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” and threatened an additional 10% tariff on Canadian goods. Carney called Ford “a couple of times” from Asia to ask him to pull the campaign. Ford agreed — but not before airing the ads through the first two World Series games. He called it “mission accomplished.”⁵

Simone Impei / Unsplash — The ‘Protect Ontario’ campaign includes ads promoting the Ring of Fire, small nuclear reactors, and a broad ‘building’ message. The government says costs will be revealed through the annual public accounts process — months after the money is spent.

The political fallout was immediate. Carney confirmed he apologized to Trump for the ad. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it “foreign interference in American public policy.” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she was “pleased” the campaign was suspended. Canada-U.S. trade talks did not resume. Ford said the ads received “over a billion impressions” and that he would “never apologize” for defending Ontario.⁶

The cost was never fully disclosed. Ford said he didn’t know exactly how much was spent but that it was “a lot less” than $75 million because the campaign was cut short. The government has not provided a final tally. Taxpayers paid tens of millions of dollars for an advertising campaign that ran for days, provoked a trade crisis, and was pulled at the prime minister’s request.

The pattern is the story. Ford’s government has spent more than half a billion dollars on advertising since taking office. The spending has increased every year. The auditor general tracks it. The opposition criticizes it. The government does not proactively disclose it. And the ads consistently use government resources to promote the governing party’s brand — “It’s Happening Here” became “Protect Ontario,” which is the PC election slogan.

Ford has defended the spending by saying taxpayers deserve to know what the government is doing. “Get out there and start telling people what we’re doing for health care because we’re doing so much,” he said in March, previewing yet another campaign. “People deserve to know how we’re spending their tax dollars.”⁷

The irony is precise. The premier says people deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent. The premier’s office refuses to say how many tax dollars are being spent on the ads that say how tax dollars are being spent.

Ontario is running a $13.8-billion deficit — the largest in the province’s history outside of the pandemic. Net debt is trending upward. Per capita GDP growth is trending downward. Debt interest is consuming an increasing share of the provincial budget. And the government’s response is to saturate the airwaves with advertising that uses the same slogan as its election campaign, while refusing to disclose the cost.⁸

The auditor general will eventually publish the number. It will be a record. It will be reported for a day. The government will launch the next campaign. And taxpayers will continue to fund advertising that tells them how well their money is being spent — without ever being told how much of their money is being spent on the advertising itself.

Doug Ford’s government spent $112 million on advertising last year — a provincial record. The year before was also a record. This year’s “Protect Ontario” campaign is flooding every platform, and the government refuses to say what it costs. Last October, Ford spent $75 million on U.S. anti-tariff ads that Trump forced him to pull within days — provoking a trade crisis, ending negotiations, and requiring the prime minister to apologize. The final cost was never disclosed. Ontario is running a $13.8-billion deficit. The government says people deserve to know how their money is spent. The government will not say how much money is being spent telling people how their money is spent. That is not transparency. It is a half-billion-dollar advertising operation that uses public funds to promote a political brand — and the only thing the government will not advertise is the price tag.