Earlier here, I reported on a the contents of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's written answer to Liberal MP Rob Oliphant who wanted to know how much the government had spent on television ads to tell Canadians about the new Tax Free Savings Accounts (TSFA). Flaherty said the government spent $3 million to prepare and air the ads.
A commenter asked earlier here about these written questions. You can find an updated list of all the questions that have been submitted to the government here. But here's the funny thing about the answers: There's no one central spot to find the answers. The list of questions will indicate if it's been answered yet or not and then there might be a direction to see the Hansard Debates or Journals for more info — but probably not the answer. You may also be directed to a sessional paper – a kind of bound long-form answer to a particular question. My advice if you find a question that you, too, are particularly interested in is to phone up the MP who asked the question and get him or her to provide you with the answer they received. Here's the list of current MPs with hyperlinks to their contact information.
Turns out that the NDP had also pursued the broader issue of government spending related to the production of the budget through an access to information request. The records released to the NDP under that request indicated that, in addition to the $3 million for TFSA-related TV ads, the government also spent an additional $2 million for advertising in other media to promote the TFSA.
The finance department also spent another $540,000 or so advertising the whole “Advantage Canada” concept.
So: Total advertising spend associated with the budget: About $5.54 million.
Does the NDP think it's a bad thing to promote to Canadians how they can take advantage of the new programs available to them? They're all about clarity, clarity, clarity right? So, advertising and explaining and educating all cost money, and national advertising isn't cheap.