OTTAWA—The federal government has tapped an international public relations firm to roll out a $22 million advertising campaign promoting the oilsands and Canada’s natural resource sector across the world.

The Canadian arm of FleishmanHillard has been awarded a $1.695 million contract to oversee the first phase of the ad blitz, expected to be deployed in United States, Europe, and Asia this year.

Should the firm’s contract be extended into 2015, the work could be worth as much as $4 million, with the remaining $18 million budgeted for media buys.

The PR firm, which has previously done strategic communications work and public opinion research for at least two other federal departments, boasts a number of offices in all three targeted markets.

According to Natural Resources Canada, FleishmanHillard will be responsible for developing and producing the print, Internet and television ads, as well as drawing up overarching public relations, advertising and social media strategies.

The firm is also being asked to liaise with Department of Foreign Affairs trade missions to tailor the ads to the different concerns and requirements in the three markets.

The federal government has already suggested draft messaging for the campaign, mostly focusing on Canada’s “responsible” resource development — with the word “responsible” underlined in the department’s request for proposals — and the country’s environmental record.

The department also called investment opportunities in Canada’s resource sector “unparalleled,” and suggested the country is a leader in sustainable and stable energy sources when compared to the alternatives. While the campaign is intended to include Canada’s natural resource sector as a whole, the RFP explicitly mentions Alberta bitumen only.

Similar messaging was tested in Washington focus groups in April 2013. In a September report to the department, HarrisDecima found the groups had “neutral to positive” responses to ads proposing increased energy partnership between the United States and its northern neighbour.

“Overall, it was fairly clear that Canada is held in fairly high regard, even if it is not often considered, and that an element of that high regard relates to Canada being a competent and trustworthy neighbour/partner — both in terms of industrial partnerships and acting responsibly,” says the report, commissioned at a cost of $58,000.

One focus group considered Canada a “preferred energy supplier,” and others reacted positively to a greater reliance on “friendly oil” and continental energy security.

Despite those positive results, Ottawa has received a chilly reception from the Obama administration on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a project vehemently opposed by environmentalists in the U.S. The federal government also faces continued domestic opposition to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would transport Alberta crude to the British Columbia coast.

David Provencher, a spokesman for Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, said the advertising campaign will “better inform” other markets about Canada’s natural resource sector to ensure “a fact-based public dialogue.”

“The objectives of the ad campaign are to raise awareness of Canada’s environmental record and the shared U.S.-Canada energy interest and needs,” said Provencher, in a written statement.

“The campaign is also intended to raise awareness among decision-makers in Europe and the Asia Pacific that Canada is a secure, reliable and responsible supplier of crude oil, natural gas and other natural resources.”

NDP House leader Nathan Cullen, who has been fighting against the Northern Gateway project, accused the government of using the ad campaign to “greenwash” Canada’s international reputation — a reputation he says has been severely damaged in recent years.

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Cullen also questioned the need to spend public funds to help natural resource companies sell their products.

“Of all the industries, I didn’t know that oil and gas and mining companies were so impoverished that they couldn’t take ads out in newspapers,” Cullen said Tuesday. “I don’t know why we’re subsidizing Shell and Chevron in their efforts to sell oil. I think they’re more than capable of doing that themselves.”

Requests for an interview left with FleishmanHillard’s Ottawa office — listed as the bid winner on a federal government website — were not returned.

Natural Resources noted that while the estimated budget for the ad campaign is $22 million, the final cost will not be released until the government’s 2014-2015 annual report on advertising expenses.

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