A political watchdog is warning B.C.’s new government to be careful not to go down the same road as the previous party when it comes to partisan government advertising.
A B.C. government website, Facebook page, video and even Twitter feed now all feature content with NDP political slogans.
Integrity BC says that’s a problem.
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“Better BC” was one of the NDP’s campaign slogans, but is now a government hashtag and a website to promote the New Democrats’ budget, including a flashy new campaign style video.
Integrity BC’s Dermod Travis said it’s a big problem when the NDP as a political party and a new NDP government start merging in identity.
“You’re running into a dangerous position where people will start seeing what they saw under the previous government, and will have the same reaction to it.”
The political watchdog said part of the problem for the NDP is the large Government Communications and Public Engagement division which manages the province’s PR.
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“What they’re going to have to do is demonstrate to that sub ministry that we want to have a different tone,” Travis said.
“We want to set a different standard, and some of the practices you were encouraged to use in the past are not going to be the practices that we are going to accept moving forward.”
Travis, who has long been critical of the previous government’s multi-million dollar ad sprees, said the New Democrats need to fulfill key campaign promises around government advertising soon.
On Monday, the opposition BC Liberals attacked the NDP for “hypocrisy” over the ads.
In a statement, premier’s office spokesperson Jen Holmwood said the government is “committed to working with interested stakeholders, including the Auditor-General and British Columbians, to establish strict standards for advertising to ensure British Columbians can have confidence that public money is being spent appropriately.”