Unpacking the politics: Vanity ads produced on taxpayers’ time and dime

WATCH: Heather Scoffield, Ottawa bureau chief for The Canadian Press, and the Ottawa Citizen’s Mark Kennedy discuss taxpayers footing the bill for videos promoting government programs.

OTTAWA — Public servants worked overtime to help produce so-called vanity videos featuring Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre touting the Conservative plans regarding child care.

The minister has said point blank he will not apologize for using public money to produce partisan ads. But as The Canadian Press Ottawa bureau chief Heather Scoffield pointed out, he’s not the first to do this.

“We also have the Prime Minister’s Office making these 24/7 videos that they put out every week, and that’s also on the public dime,” she said. “That blurs the line between explaining public policy and what is actually politicking in advance of an election.”

And the Conservatives should be wary of the negative message their actions might be sending to voters, said Mark Kennedy, parliamentary bureau chief for the Ottawa Citizen.

“At any time when a government is approaching 10 years in its couple of mandates, the last thing they need is the public perception that they are arrogant, that they are entitled and that they want to spend money — public money, taxpayers’ money — to get themselves re-elected and that’s exactly what is happening with these videos.”