As the federal government struggles to get provinces on board with the new Canada Job Grant, focus groups felt that a federal government ad campaign was effective in promoting the still-nonexistent program.

A recently released report from Environics Research found that, by and large, the television ad campaign for the Canada Jobs Grant was well received by focus group participants across the country.

“Based on the ad, participants felt this was aimed at helping Canadians either ‘get a job,’ ‘get a better job’ or ‘find a job they really like,’ ” the report reads.

“On the other hand, a number of participants had a much broader view of the message — for them, the ad was about investing in Canadian skills to build a stronger economy, to help Canadians find work or to keep the economy moving.”

Normally, that would be music to government ad men’s ears. The only problem is that the Jobs Grant — which would provide up to $15,000 for training, the costs split three ways between the federal and provincial governments and employers — has yet to receive the necessary buy-in from the provinces and territories.

Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney has been pressing his counterparts to reach an agreement on Jobs Grant program, most recently at a face-to-face meeting in Toronto last month. The two sides were no closer to an agreement after that meeting, although Kenney said the federal government remains “flexible” on the details of the program and would continue to negotiate with his provincial counterparts.

Announced as part of the 2013 budget, the Canada Jobs Grant would reduce direct federal job training funding to provinces by $300 million annually. Ottawa would issue the grants itself, should provinces and employers match their funding.

The goal is to increase employers’ contributions to the training of their current and future employees, and to focus on training that will lead more directly to employment. Provinces, however, would lose both the direct funding and would be asked to find matching funds from their existing resources, and have opposed the changes.

The advertisements provoked a number of questions from focus group participants, including who is responsible for applying for the grant, what happens if training costs more than $15,000, what kind of training is eligible, and, perhaps most importantly, when the grant becomes available.

In its report, Environics noted respondents’ questions were to be expected, given “many of the mechanics of the grant have not yet been established” as of April 2013.

The report also noted some fatigue with ubiquitous Government of Canada advertising.

“In fact, a few suggested they would likely ‘tune out’ if they were to see this ad on TV simply because it looked so much like the other Government of Canada ads that they have been seeing and that this ad was nothing new,” Environics noted.

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The Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper have spent $548.6 million on government advertising since first coming to power in 2006. It’s not known how much the Canada Jobs Grant media buy cost federal coffers.

The current labour market agreement between the provinces and Ottawa expires in early 2014.

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