OTTAWA — Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill for a $650,000 ad campaign that boasts about a one-cent cut to the GST – a campaign that opposition members say is nothing more than pre-election advertising for the Conservatives.

Radio spots that began airing on Dec. 28 and newspaper advertisements that will soon appear in small weeklies inform Canadians of the benefits they will reap as a result of the sales-tax cut that came into effect on Jan. 1.

“The government of Canada is ringing in the New Year with another tax cut. Starting January 1st, the GST will be reduced to five per cent, the second cut in less than two years,” says the radio ad.

“This means significant tax savings on most everything you buy, like a coffee, a new home, a computer or a new car. To learn more about the GST reduction, visit Canada.gc.ca or call 1-800-O-Canada. 2008 will be a less taxing year for Canadians.”

I know some libloggers will be up in arms over for this, but I for one would like to thank Canada’s New Government for keeping Canadians informed. Why, just this morning I was in line for a cup of coffee and had already calculated the cost when I remembered the ad I’d heard on the radio the night before. I quickly recalculated the new cost and managed to pay in exact change. I can only imagine what I would have done if I hadn’t heard the ads – I might have had to put two pennies away when told the price! How embarrassing would that have been!

I’m sure this scene has happened thousands of times coast to coast this week (given the $650,000 price tag for the ads, hopefully many thousand times). I look forward to more informative ads in the coming months along the lines of “Did you know the Canadian government has been Adscam free for two years?”.