The Canadian government wishes to inform its citizens that despite appearances, encouraging the downloading of pirated movies and music is not, actually, part of the country's Economic Action Plan.

The government's Department of Finance has temporarily pulled Web ads for the plan after the banners appeared on the notorious Pirate Bay site, the Ottawa Citizen reported this week.

It's not clear how the banners, bearing the tagline "Find out what's in it for you," wound up on The Pirate Bay alongside low-rent ads for gambling businesses, dating sites, "Find a Chinese bride" services, and the like.

The Citizen contacted the department and received the following e-mail:

The Department of Finance did not purchase ad space on The Pirate Bay web site. We did however, include 4 ad networks in our media buy (Bell Media, Canoe, Microsoft, Yahoo). Each of the networks mentioned above use the most effective brand safety filters available and follow strict guidelines for all Government of Canada advertising campaigns. In addition, each network confirmed that this site is not owned by them and that the appearance of the ad on this site is unauthorized. However, upon further research it was determined that some banner ads were appearing with an "ad choices icon" which traces back to Yahoo. Yahoo is now looking into the matter and in the meantime, we have asked Yahoo to halt all EAP ads until the matter is resolved.

And Yahoo in turn sent the Citizen this statement:

We have done a thorough investigation into the claims made in your article and we have confirmed that Yahoo! was not responsible for the EAP ad showing up on The Pirate Bay. We have been able to trace the ad to Sympatico who were responsible for this ad's appearance on the site, and they have been notified of the issue so they can take the appropriate actions.

We've asked Sympatico for information on what might've happened, and we'll update this post if we hear back.

Canada launched its Economic Action Plan in 2009 in response to the global economic downturn. The plan is designed to "create jobs, build infrastructure, accelerate housing construction, stimulate spending by Canadians, and support businesses and communities," according to a 2011 report by the Auditor General of Canada.

The Ottawa Citizen

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay, meanwhile, is an infamous online clearinghouse for pirated movies, music, and the like. Google recently added the site to the list of those that don't appear in the search giant's Instant and Autocomplete search features -- a move meant to go at least part of the way toward addressing the concerns of the Recording Industry Association of America over online piracy.

Ironically, the Canadian government could reach a lot of people by way of ads on The Pirate Bay. Emil Protalinski over at The Next Web notes that at least by one reckoning, the site is the 36th most-visited in the Great White North.

One wonders, however, if it's the sort of site that would stimulate spending by Canadians.