Island taxpayers should be refunded for the cost of a recent government advertisement, P.E.I. Liberals say

Islanders are receiving their Island Essentials benefit payment. The Liberals are putting government in hot water over this ad for the Island Essentials benefit, arguing it breaks advertising laws. In it, Premier Rob Lantz and Finance Minister Jill Burridge talk about how the benefit works and how you're getting it. But the Liberals say they're focused on the fine print right here. They have to pull the ad. It's in violation of the act. And of course, they should refund the taxpayers of Prince Edward Island for the dollars that they use to promote themselves. at a time where they should be more concerned about making the lives of Islanders better. According to the Government Advertising Standards Act, ads paid for by government shall not include the name, voice, or image of a member of the Executive Council or a member of the Legislative Assembly. But the Premier's Office says in a statement that no public money was spent to advertise or promote this social media video. I did ask the Premier's Office who paid for creating the video ad itself. We did not get a response on that question by airtime. The line that says paid for by the government of PEI is what stands out to PEI's top financial watchdog. He's the body that found government non-compliant. Well, I can only go by the advertisement that was provided to the office. And it's clear that there's a caption there that says this ad was paid for by the province of PEI. So, you know, we have to assume that it was. Now, I didn't go back to check the checkbooks and payments to see that it was. But based on what they included in their own advertisement, that's what we concluded. You know, Islanders are feeling a lot of pain right now, paying electricity bills, fuel bills, and what have you. Here we have a government using taxpayers' dollars for partisan promotion. And now there is a version of that video on the government's Facebook page, which does not include the line saying this ad is paid for by the government of PEI. Now, there are no penalties in the provincial advertising law, but the Liberals say they plan to introduce just that, so that if government was found noncompliant, it would have to refund the total cost of taxpayer-funded ads. Cody McKay, CBC News, Charlottetown.