Ever since the country became involved in a trade war with the United States of America, there’s been a deafening call from every corner of the country to “Buy Canadian”.

In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford order the removal of American products from the shelves of the LCBO and retailers have started posting Made in Canada labels on Canadian products.

But it seems a little hypocritical on the part the federal government to encourage people to “Buy Canadian” when they refuse to do the same.

The federal government spends millions of dollars running ads on social media platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), X and Google, while offering mainstream media outlets, including community newspapers like this one, table scraps.

According to the federal government’s own annual report on its advertising activities, the feds spent more than $75 million on advertising in 2024. Of that $75 million or so, the feds spent nearly $40 million on digital ads, including over $8.5 million on search engine marketing and more than $6.5 million on social media. In comparison, radio received $2.5 million and print publications got less than $1.4 million. That’s about two per cent of all federal ad spending on every English, French and ethnic newspaper and magazine throughout the entire country.

To add insult to injury, the federal government ended it’s boycott of Meta last month. Ottawa had stopped purchasing ad space from Facebook’s parent company in July 2023 after the California-based firm blocked all news content on its platforms in Canada in response to a federal law requiring digital companies to compensate Canadian media outlets for sharing their content in the country.

Given the current political climate, it would be nice if the various political parties running in the federal election pledged to follow the lead Doug Ford has taken in Ontario where his government and its Crown corporations – like the LCBO, OLG, the Ontario Cannabis Store and Metrolinx – have pledged to spend 25 per cent of their existing ad budgets on local publications. It’s a move that not only doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime, it generates additional tax revenue as the local publications must pay tax on the ads as opposed to the U.S. based social media giants who don’t.

The City of Ottawa also spends an inordinate amount of money on online ads with the American social media giants and Meta in particular. It would be nice if some of those dollars could be redirected to the local community newspapers in the area like the Orléans Star, the Barrhaven Independent and the Community Voice which have tens of thousands.

Both the City of Ottawa and the federal government need to get in sync with Canadians when it comes to its advertising spending.

The federal election campaign presents the perfect time for all three major parties to make that pledge.