Ontario's workplace safety board is spending over $800K on an ad blitz. Its own workers are questioning why

Ontario’s workplace safety board is defending an advertising campaign that critics say is designed to improve its reputation, with some saying the funds should be spent helping injured workers.

The five-week TV campaign features two ads that focus on the stories of fictional workers as they return to work after an injury. The 30-second spots close with the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s (WSIB) logo as a brief list of services it provides flashes on the screen.

But Ontario’s Official Opposition and the union that represents the agency’s 3,800 workers are slamming the $855,000 spent on the ad campaigns now running on television, and which ran for another five-week period in late 2024. The current campaign will cost the WSIB $455,000, while the previous ad cost around $400,000, the agency says.

The president of the union OCEU/CUPE 1750 said the advertisements are a waste and that money should have been spent on the WSIB’s core mission.

“I think they're a little bit odd,” Harry Goslin said of the ads. “WSIB is the sole provider if you're covered under the Workplace Safety Insurance Act. It's not like, if you become unfortunately injured or ill on the job, that you get to shop around where you're going to go.” 

“I don't really understand why these ads are running,” he added.

Ad dollars should go to improving WSIB services: union

Nearly a year ago, the union raised concerns about another WSIB ad campaign, accusing the agency of forgetting its mandate. That came just months ahead of a seven-week strike that saw the agency’s workers walk the picket line across the province. 

Part of the WSIB's mandate includes a duty to educate workers and employers on workplace safety, but Goslin said this renewed advertising blitz seems designed to improve the agency's standing in the minds of Ontarians.

“Surely, this money could be better used to improve staffing levels, which would improve call wait times, speed to allowance for a claim, speed up access to health care, speed up return to work, all good things like that,” he said.

A spokesperson for the board defended the ads, saying the WSIB is attempting to address concerns, some of which come from organized labour, that injured workers don’t often know about their services.

“We support people with upwards of $2.5 billion every year in terms of income support payments and health-care costs to help people recover and return to work,” said WSIB's vice-president of communications, Aaron Lazarus.

“This is a fraction of a fraction of that, and it's a responsible approach to make sure that people understand what the organization is and what we do.”

WSIB says ads spread word about its services

The WSIB is a government agency that is largely funded by premiums paid by Ontario businesses.

“It is Ontario business premium dollars that are paying for this, not taxpayer dollars, and we have a responsibility to deliver value for that,” Lazarus said. “I think that part of the value is talking to Ontarians and making sure that both they and Ontario businesses know what they are getting for their premium dollars in terms of the insurance product.”

NDP finance critic Jessica Bell said the ad campaign doesn’t produce a “tangible, practical benefit” for Ontario workers. Business owners who pay WSIB premiums want to see them used wisely, she said. 

“In this economic climate, I think any executive of a government agency should think twice about spending money on generic advertising, and should instead invest that money into essential programs and services like helping injured workers pay the bills, pay the rent and get back to work,” she said.

Bell said the WSIB is following a broader example set by the Doug Ford government when it comes to ad spending. In December, the province’s auditor general’s report showed the Progressive Conservative government spent a record $112-million on a series of taxpayer-funded ad blitzes. 

The auditor found nearly 40 per cent of those ads were meant to leave the viewer with a positive impression of the Ford government.

Bell said she wants the province — and WSIB — to throttle back on ad spending, and put that money where it will make an impact: basic services. 

“Instead of talking about how they're going to make transit better, they should invest that money into transit,” she said. “Instead of talking about how the health-care system is just fine and dandy, they should be investing that money in emergency rooms and hiring more nurses. People want to see results.”

At the time of the release of the auditor's report, Ontario’s Environment Minister Todd McCarthy defended the province’s advertising spend. He said it was needed to inform Ontarians and, in some instances, push back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.

“We've educated the American public with our ads. That influences lawmakers. It influences the citizens, our friends, our allies in the United States, south of the border.”

In recent years, the PCs have attempted to use agency advertising spending as a stimulus tool for the province’s struggling local journalism industry. It announced July 2024 that it was directing all government agencies to ensure a quarter of their ad buys were with local media.

“These government agencies are some of the largest advertisers in the province, together spending well over $100 million on marketing each year,” the government directive said.

The government promised quarterly reviews to ensure the policy was working, but Ford's office did not respond to a CBC request for that data.

At the time, the policy won some praise from organized labour, with a union that represents media workers across Ontario saying it would help save local jobs.