mr. speaker: saanich north and the islands. thank you mr. speaker. there is no bigger critic in thislegislature of the b.c. liberal's approach to government-funded partisan advertisingthan the b.c. ndp. they regularly, and rightly, levelled criticism at the liberals for theway they treated public dollars as if they were part of their election campaign. on the eve of 2017 election, the b.c. liberalsalmost doubled the government advertising budget to $15 million. they blanketed theairwaves with ads, and many were clearly partisan in nature. in opposition, we heard promisesthat an ndp government would end the use of
partisan government advertising by havingthe auditor general check ads to make sure that they were neutral. we've heard from thisgovernment that they're still committed to this, but we haven't seen action. my question is for the minister of finance.where does the government stand today on the previous commitment to ensure that governmentadvertising has independent oversight and that public tax dollars are not being usedfor partisan purposes? mr. speaker: minister of finance. hon. c. james:â thank you to the member forthe question. i couldn't agree more — and the need to do things differently. i thinkthe public is certainly seeing that.
we are making sure that the advertising thatwe are bringing forward is non-partisan and that it talks about government programs thatindividuals in british columbia need to apply to, to be able to address it, whether we'retalking about child care, whether we're talking about housing, whether we're talking aboutpharmacare and the importance of people applying for pharmacare and the changes that have happenedin pharmacare. "find out what's possible for you" is the focus of the advertising thatwe're looking at. then, to follow up on the second part of themember's question, which was what we're looking at when it comes to advertising, we are inthe process of developing new standards right now to ensure that british columbians haveconfidence in the process. we'll be happy
to share those when the work is done, as iknow the members agree with us that we need to make sure that partisan advertising isn'tbeing paid for by public dollars. mr. speaker:â the member for saanich northand the islands on a supplemental. thank you mr. speaker. no one would argue against theneed for government to promote the important programs and services for the public. that'snot what's in dispute here. clearly, there is a need to inform the public. however, thereis no place for public funds to be spent on partisan government advertising. this governmenthas been cautioned already by watchdogs for partisan advertising, only months into thetenure. we need independent oversight to put an end to this.
in opposition, the ndp introduced a bill threetimes that would have ended partisan government advertising by requiring all ads to get theauditor general to sign-off that they were nonpartisan and factual. our caucus wouldsupport that measure now. let's not let this go any longer. people get cynical when wesee a party says one thing in opposition and another in government. my question is again to the minister of finance.back in september the government said that they were working on options. we hear thatagain today — options for independent oversight of government advertising. it's now march,and we haven't seen substantial movement. when will the government fulfil the commitmentto having independent oversight of government?
what's the timeline? hon. c. james:â i don't have a specific timelinefor the member, but i can assure him that as we're developing those standards, the workis going on right now. we're in the process right now of developing those standards. we'll be happy to share those with the memberand all members of the house so that we can all get input into the standards to make surethat they are very specific around ensuring that public dollars are not being used forpartisan advertising. that will include everything from the appearance of ministers in ads andmaking sure that is banned, as part of those standards.
that's the kind of approach that we're taking,that's the kind of work that we're looking at, and we're open to all suggestions andall ideas. we're looking at previous bills, as well, and making sure that we put a processin place that's going to really ensure that the public can have confidence once againin the utilization of government dollars.
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