Federal advertising to ramp up for 150th year

OTTAWA — It’s a multimillion-dollar sesquicentennial blitz.

As Canadians prepare to celebrate the nation’s birthday Monday, the Conservative government is planning to spend at least $20 million over five years on advertising and branding to promote Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017.

While the advertising offensive ramps up, the government is also hoping to “manage” expectations of how much it will spend on legacy projects and events to mark the 150th birthday.

Plans for the Canada 150 advertising campaign also come as the government spends tens of millions of dollars on its economic action plan ads and millions more to celebrate the War of 1812 bicentennial.

The federal government plans a five-year, $20-million rollout of several advertising initiatives — including at least four television ads — as part of its efforts to celebrate the sesquicentennial, according to documents obtained through access to information.

“Building on the success of the War of 1812 ad campaign, Canadian Heritage is proposing to lead an integrated advertising campaign that would span the next five years (2013-14 to 2017-18) and be aimed at increasing Canadians’ knowledge and pride in Canada’s history and heritage,” reads a federal government advertising project proposal.

A broader marketing offensive will include several federal departments and agencies, including the National Capital Commission, national museums, Canada Post, Royal Canadian Mint, the Governor General, RCMP, Veterans Affairs Canada, National Defence and other organizations, according to the documents.

But despite the multimillion-dollar ad campaign, the government is trying to temper public expectations on how much it can spend on actual event and projects celebrating Canada 150.