Article content continued

The “Operation Syrian Refugees” plan says the campaign will “demonstrate Canada’s compassionate values and re-affirm our global leading role in refugee resettlement.”

‘‘This appears to be an early stage working document,’’ a senior official source said Thursday.

Continue reading…

[/np_storybar]

The Liberals did win, of course — and in decisive fashion. No sign yet of an advertising commissioner, but that’s to be expected at this early date. But this is something the Liberals should move quickly on. The Conservatives, during their recently concluded time in office, spent tens of millions of dollars, year after year, on their “Economic Action Plan” ads. The ubiquitous commercials, which rolled out during the global economic crisis, were intended to calm jittery Canadian nerves by reminding us that we were doing fine, relatively speaking, and highlighting the steps the government was taking to ease us through the tough time.

Whatever slim justification that may have had, though, ended along with the recession in Canada. The ads, however, did not. The Economic Action Plan ads quickly morphed into touting the awesomeness of the Harper government, and were paid for by the taxpayer. It was odious stuff and the Liberals were right to promise to do away with it.

And yet now, Canada’s new government may be about to embark on a partisan advertising spending spree of its own. As reported on Friday by the Post’s John Ivison, as part of their plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees from the Middle East into Canada, the government intends to spend $500,000 on a digital ad campaign to sell the public on the effort, and a further $130,000 monitoring the effectiveness of the campaign. A sales job is arguably warranted; polls show that Canadians remain deeply divided on the notion, and are particularly uncomfortable with the apparent rush to bring in the refugees, despite renewed (if, to my view, overstated) concerns of terrorist threats from refugees. So it’s natural, in other words, for the Liberals to want to sell the public on the mission.