Government launches new ‘Protect Ontario’ commercial, won’t reveal cost

Critics are questioning the Ford government’s decision to pour more public money into an advertising blitz after the province debuted its latest commercial during the Super Bowl.

The new one-minute Protect Ontario ad for the provincial government was first aired on Canadian television Sunday night as part of a push to promote the government’s vision.

“We build, that’s what we do in Ontario,” the voiceover begins. “As Canada stares down economic uncertainty, we’re ready with a plan to protect Ontario. Today and for generations.”

The commercial — produced by an Ontario-based animator — moves through images of home, highway and pipeline construction, featuring images of ships, cars and remote parts of Ontario.

“The government’s latest advertising campaign … highlights some of the ways we are building a more competitive, resilient, and self-reliant economy,” the premier’s office said.

Critics, however, argue the government is wasting public money on a campaign designed to boost its poll ratings rather than educate the public.

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“I don’t even want to think about how much this ad will cost taxpayers. But we do know it will add to this government’s historic, unprecedented spending on self-promotional advertising — all on the public dime,” Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman said in a statement.

“What does this ad do to help Ontario? Why is this government focused on spending millions of dollars on self-promotion when they could be spending millions to help get young people jobs, to help break up criminal networks, and to help connect people to a family doctor?”

Bowman suggested the commercial’s claims were misleading. “We’re not building,” she said, pointing to the fact that Ontario had the worst housing construction rate in the country last year.

The Ontario NDP took a similarly dim view of the advertising blitz.

“These ads paint a pretty misleading picture about life in Doug Ford’s Ontario,” the party wrote in a statement. “They had to rely on special effects because the reality is that this government isn’t building any homes, they’re not fixing our roads, and they’re not creating or protecting good jobs.”

The premier’s office declined to tell Global News how much the commercial would cost, saying only the figures would eventually be released through public accounts data.

In recent years, the Progressive Conservatives have steadily ramped up the amount of public money being spent on government advertising. It reached a record of $111.9 million in the run-up to last year’s snap election.

The auditor general has complained that many of the campaigns the government is pushing don’t appear to have a purpose — beyond improving perceptions of the Progressive Conservative administration.

One previous campaign, “It’s Happening Here,” was flagged by the auditor as being run without a clear purpose beyond improving the public’s view of the government.

“The advertisements were aimed at a general audience,” Auditor General Shelley Spence wrote in her report for 2025.

“They did not include information about services and programs, but rather appeared designed to improve Ontarians’ impression of the current state of Ontario, the subtext of which promotes the governing party.”