Using taxpayer money to lure Canadians to vote Conservative in the next federal election is a bit rich.

But that’s exactly what the Harper government appears to be doing when it spends millions on advertising to promote its own policies — conveniently without any oversight to make sure the ads aren’t partisan.

In Ontario, the Auditor-General’s office must approve all government advertising to ensure that it doesn’t promote a particular political party. The same should be done in Ottawa.

The Harper government should follow Ontario’s lead — and rein in some of its advertising spending while it’s at it.

In the five years ending in 2014,the federal government spent almost $500 million to advertise its programs, a Star analysis found last December.

Now documents obtained by CTV News indicate the Harper government plans to spend $7.5 million in May alone to promote its so-called Economic Action Plan. The new ad campaign is timed to air just after the release of the April 21 budget, and the government isn’t apologizing for it.

Liberal MP David McGuinty, who is sponsoring a private member’s bill that would establish independent oversight of federal advertising, argues the Harper government ads — with their Conservative blue colours and imagery — amount to “propaganda.” He’s right.

The ads also suck up money that could be better spent on important services and programs, he argues. Right again.

For example, he says, money spent publicizing the Economic Action Plan this year would have been better spent promoting rail safety based on lessons learned from the Lac-Mégantic disaster; keeping the federally funded National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, running; or making sure a local Veterans Affairs office stays open.

No one is suggesting there isn’t a place for federal advertising to inform Canadians of new government policies. The question is whether the Conservative ads are designed to inform taxpayers — or buy votes.

It looks too much like the latter, and it ought to stop. The Harper government needs independent oversight of its advertising spending. And it needs to cut it, just as rigorously as it has cut so many more worthy initiatives.

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