Stephen Harper’s government withholds details of $16-million PR campaign for oil industry
OTTAWA — The Harper government is declining to explain how and where it is spending millions of taxpayer dollars on advertising to promote oil, gas and pipeline companies as well as other Canadian natural resources.
Facing nearly four hours of questions from opposition MPs this week, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver also declined to provide specifics on a training program, worth up to $500,000, for his department’s scientists and other officials, “designed to help them communicate with the public and to do so in a way that is accessible to the public.”
Overall, Oliver said his department wanted to spend up to $16.5 million on advertising in the upcoming year, with details made available “at the appropriate time.”
“This is a critical moment in the development of our natural resources, and therefore we have allocated a significant amount of money for advertising,” Oliver told a special committee studying spending estimates in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening.
NDP natural resources critic Peter Julian said that the new spending represents a 7,000 per cent increase in advertising budgets at Natural Resources Canada since 2010-2011.
READ MORE: http://o.canada.com/technology/environment/stephen-harpers-government-withholds-details-of-16-million-pr-for-oil-industry
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