Here’s a brief history of federal election political ads

By: Mia Rabson Posted: 12:48 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015

In the last federal election, the three main national parties collectively spent more than $33 million on political advertising over the course of a 37-day campaign. It accounted for more than half of every dollar spent by the Conservatives and NDP, and was almost two-thirds of the Liberal budget.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/08/2015 (3687 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This campaign, which is more than twice as long as the last one and increases spending limts to more than $54 million per party, will see that amount soar.

You likely won’t see a lot of evidence of the extra advertising until after Labour Day, once people are back into their normal routines and the distractions of summer are behind us.

Postmedia
A Liberal Party attack ad about the healthcare system from the 2011 election. (Postmedia News) — Postmedia A Liberal Party attack ad about the healthcare system from the 2011 election. (Postmedia News)

But keep an eye out. Canadians may even start to think the American-ization of our political system is complete with the amount of election advertising that could be unleashed on us come this fall.

With a longer campaign, expense limits are more than doubled so expect to see a corresponding increase in the amount of political advertising you see between now and election day.

Although Americans have perfected the art of the political ad, Canadian political parties aren’t too shabby when it comes to thinking up creative advertisements.

Think of the 1988 Free Trade “Border” ad from the Liberals as one example. Or more recently the Ontario Liberal Party ad that showed Premier Kathleen Wynne running while she was running.

Sometimes ads can backfire bigtime. The infamous Jean Chretien “face ad” from the Progressive Conservative Party in 1993 was widely condemned for appearing to make fun of Chretien’s mild facial deformity, while the 2006 Liberal ad suggesting Harper would put soldiers with guns on our streets was decried as going over the line.

And sometimes ads are so successful they get poached. A 2011 Manitoba NDP ad attacking then PC Leader Hugh McFadyen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd7kp_zZA_8 was considered so successful by the Tories, the federal Conservatives have ripped it off for their own attack against Justin Trudeau this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86-9HitWg0

That ad, released in May, is running now on television. It is one of a series of “Just Not Ready” ads the Conservatives have in the bag to battle Trudeau.

You can see the other Conservative ads here.

The barrage of “Just Not Ready” ads has been so intense, Trudeau was forced to spend money to defend against it. That ad, “Ready," in rotation for the Liberals right now.

You can see other ads they have here.

And don’t think the NDP don’t have skin in the game yet. This ad, “Enough” goes after the Conservatives hard for the scandals and police investigations the party has faced in the last decade.

The NDP You Tube channel has other NDP ads for your viewing pleasure.

The Free Press will keep tabs on any ads the main national parties release and any third party ads we see too. If you see or hear a political ad, let us know when and where. Tweet it to @mrabson or @winnipegnews.