Advertising Standards Canada to conduct independent and public reviews of government ads against the definition of “non-partisan communications”

10 August 2016

ASC has been asked to provide an important new advertising review service for the Government of Canada. Effective immediately, ASC will review the Government of Canada’s advertising to ensure that it is “non-partisan.”

ASC will assess the government’s advertising against their definition of “non-partisan”. According to the government’s definition, “non-partisan” means that the advertising is:

  • objective, factual and explanatory
  • free from political party slogans, images, identifiers; bias; designation; or affiliation
  • the primary colour associated with the governing party is not used in a dominant way, unless an item is commonly depicted in that colour
  • advertising does not contain the name, voice or image of a minister, Member of Parliament or senator. 

After one year, the Office of the Auditor General will conduct an audit of ASC’s review mechanism. The review service is in response to the new government’s campaign platform to ensure all government communications are informative rather than political.