NDP IN TROUBLE WITH ADS
By Adnews Staff
The beleaguered NDP government in British Columbia has given the Opposition another target for potshots with a planned ad campaign to extoll the virtues of the NDP economic strategy for the province. To handle the campaign, the provincial Forests Ministry recently hired WKL Communications of Victoria and the Employment Ministry tapped Lanyon Phillips Brink of Vancouver. These agencies are preparing eight 30-second TV commercials, some of which feature testimonials from real people helped by government programs. Liberal Opposition leader Gordon Campbell has charged that the NDP is using taxpayer money to buy votes. Campbell's ammunition is a leaked May 31 memo from NDP principal secretary Brian Gardiner regarding the NDP economic program which has been given the slogan "Investing in Our Future". Gardiner's memo says, "Significant organizational effort is being put into having local MLAs benefit as much as possible from announcements flowing out this plan." He adds, "Communications material of a more partisan nature is being developed around the plan's theme." Finance Minister Elizabeth Cull threw fuel on the fire with a June 2 directive to bureaucrats and ministers to put a freeze on half of what is left of the province's ad budget, saying a government priorities committee would manage the frozen funds and develop a plan. NDP secretary Gardiner often attends meetings of this committee. Opposition chief Campbell is charging that these funds are being used for what he sees as the government's partisan ad campaign. Premier Mike Harcourt says Gardiner's memo referred to an internal party ad campaign, and that no tax money will be used for partisan advertising. However, Harcourt is also quoted in a Vancouver Sun story as saying his use of advertising is "remarkably similar" to previous Social credit government practices which Harcourt criticized while in opposition.