Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the heat of the moment, the word “lies” should not be used here even though it is clearly used a lot in a variety of different ways. I was expressing my disappointment that members would stand and say things that are so outrageous and misleading in the Parliament of Canada. I have been here going on 16 years and I do my best to be as straightforward and direct as I can be. There are lots of things that many of us could throw around here all that we want, but I do not believe that is what we are supposed to be doing.
The reason I am speaking to this very important motion has to do with a lot of the things that the government has been spending over $750 million on, telling us about how wonderful the government is and clearly is nothing short of partisan advertising. The reason for the motion is to be able to have a third party in the future that would review those advertising opportunities to clarify whether or not they are properly being used as taxpayers' dollars. That is the point of the motion, to put a third party there so that when taxpayer money is being spent to deliver a message, it is a message that is clear and direct and not a partisan message. That means for either side of the House or any party that would form government.
It is an important motion and I would hope that everyone would support it because I believe it would ensure that whoever forms the next government has very clear rules. Given the fact that I am very hopeful on this side of the House that the Liberals will have that opportunity, we are prepared to stand by this now, pass this motion so that when we do form the government, that we are already putting down rules as to how we are going to govern. We are not afraid of that. We are willing to go to the taxpayers on a variety of issues and that is one of them.
I want to thank my Liberal colleague from Ottawa South whose private member's bill that has been spearheading this because of the fact of clear abuse of dollars. Most Canadians who look at those ads know they are ineffective and know they are an absolute waste of money. There is nothing else in the ads other than promoting a government's false agenda. We need to fix the problem that is widely out of control and getting worse as the government becomes more and more desperate ahead of the next election, as we have clearly heard today.
For example, between fiscal years 2006-14, the Government of Canada spent $758 million telling us how wonderful Conservatives are, advertising phony programs and trying to make themselves look like they were doing great things, which they were not. The budget was released last week, supposedly the 2015 budget, I do not call it that. It is a 2017 budget because very little is going to happen before 2017. Let us be straight about that. The Conservatives are spending $7.5 million on that budget issue alone.
As I indicated earlier, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Trinity—Spadina, a new member who is doing a fabulous job for us representing his critic role on the cities file and we will have a lot to advertise as a result of the work that he is doing when the time comes.
The Conservatives have repeatedly used taxpayer money to buy highly partisan ads during some of the most expensive timeslots available, including the Stanley Cup finals, a timeslot that costs over $100,000 for a 30-second ad. I need to repeat that: with a 30-second ad and it costs taxpayers $100,000 to tell them about their so-called economic plan. Put that into perspective a different way. That $100,000 is equivalent to more than eight years of OAS for a low-income senior. For many of the people who live in my riding of York West, or Trinity—Spadina, or Winnipeg North, that would be eight years of old age security for a senior. That is what they blew on one ad in the Stanley Cup.
Again, that money alone could have funded the federal contribution toward the creation of 32 jobs for families devastated by the manufacturing crash. That one ad could have entirely paid the average monthly survivor's allowance for 156 people with disabilities. However, this debate is not just about spending too much money; it is about wasting money by advertising programs that do not even exist.
We all remember occasions when the current government launched multi-million dollar ad campaigns for programs that did not exist then and probably never did exist. Similarly, we remember when the Advertising Standards council forced the government to pull its May 2013 ad campaign, calling it misleading, like many of the comments we have heard here today. At that time, the council verified that the Conservatives had breached the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards by airing commercials that urged Canadians to apply for the Canada job grant, something that did not exist and there was no way to even apply for.
As has already been pointed out here today, the government is not the first in history to abuse the public purse in this way, although it has taken the practice to unprecedented heights. Mike Harris did that a lot, and I guess the government's advisors are continuing along that line. As the representative for York West, a riding that contains the Black Creek neighbourhood, Glenfield-Jane Heights, and several other communities with very high needs, to see the abuse of these advertising dollars when the need for effective programs to help people get on their feet is very disappointing.
Communities in my riding and others are filled with good people who work hard and deserve better than to have their tax dollars used to trick them into thinking that government services are being expanded in that area. They make the phone call and find out they are not eligible because the program has very specific guidelines that exclude most of the people who really need the help. I say this because they already know that government services are not being expanded to the people and communities of York West. For example, the most recent budget ignores the pleas of students at York University, Humber College, and Seneca College. It does nothing to expand the vital community programming offered by groups at Elspeth Heyworth Centre, Ephraim's Place, San Romanoway, or for seniors living at 35 Shoreham or 7-11 Arleta. No amount of advertising is going to help their lives.
The Conservative government is clearly obsessed with spending its money in an inappropriate way and no doubt will continue to do that.