{
  "dataset": "Ontario government advertising spend and claim classification",
  "description": "OAG-sourced advertising spend series, classified script claims (verified-record / not-established / context-only), and the dated ad timeline.",
  "publisher": "End The Wait Ontario",
  "publisherUrl": "https://www.endthewaitontario.com",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "sourceOfTruth": "lib/data/government-education-ads-2026.ts",
  "statsSsotLastVerified": "2026-08-10",
  "dataAsOf": "2026-08-17",
  "spendSeries": [
    {
      "year": "2022-23",
      "totalMillions": 33.7,
      "recordHigh": false,
      "sourceId": "oag-government-advertising-2025"
    },
    {
      "year": "2023-24",
      "totalMillions": 103.5,
      "recordHigh": false,
      "sourceId": "oag-government-advertising-2025"
    },
    {
      "year": "2024-25",
      "totalMillions": 111.9,
      "otherMattersMillions": 43,
      "otherMattersPct": 38,
      "recordHigh": true,
      "sourceId": "oag-government-advertising-2025"
    }
  ],
  "scriptClaims": [
    {
      "id": "teacher-pay",
      "label": "Teacher pay",
      "claim": "Ontario teachers are already paid more than teachers elsewhere in Canada.",
      "kind": "reported-claim",
      "sourceId": "trillium-leaked-script",
      "record": {
        "classification": "not-established-here",
        "label": "Not independently established here",
        "summary": "The leaked draft presents this as a government talking point. This article does not use unrelated per-student funding data as a rebuttal. A valid answer would require a like-for-like, current interprovincial compensation comparison, which is not established by the sources used for this article.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "trillium-leaked-script"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "sick-days",
      "label": "Sick leave",
      "claim": "Teachers average 14 sick days and can take them without supplying a medical note.",
      "kind": "reported-claim",
      "sourceId": "trillium-leaked-script",
      "record": {
        "classification": "verified-record",
        "label": "What the leave framework says",
        "summary": "ETFO describes 11 sick days at 100% salary and 120 short-term leave and disability plan days at 90%. Medical documentation is not accurately reduced to “no note”: ETFO says collective agreements set conditions for when documentation may be requested, and a board may also request it where there is a reasonable basis to challenge an absence or return.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "etfo-sick-leave"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "student-achievement",
      "label": "Campaign framing",
      "claim": "Student Achievement First.",
      "kind": "reported-claim",
      "sourceId": "trillium-leaked-script",
      "record": {
        "classification": "context-only",
        "label": "What the system record shows",
        "summary": "The slogan is a government framing, not a measurable proposition by itself. The article therefore places it beside independently sourced records on special education, per-student funding and the OAP waitlist as context, without treating those records as proof of government intent.",
        "sourceIds": []
      }
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "2015-05-01",
      "dateLabel": "2015",
      "title": "Advertising review standard changes",
      "detail": "The Government Advertising Act was amended. The Auditor General says the changes narrowed the definition of “partisan” and removed the Office’s discretion in deciding an advertisement’s status.",
      "kind": "independent-finding",
      "sourceIds": [
        "oag-government-advertising-2025",
        "government-advertising-act"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-07-10",
      "dateLabel": "July 10, 2026",
      "title": "Date on the reported draft",
      "detail": "The leaked education advertising script reported by The Trillium is dated July 10 and labelled “Ministry of Education: Student Achievement First.”",
      "kind": "reported-claim",
      "sourceIds": [
        "trillium-leaked-script"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-08-17",
      "dateLabel": "August 17, 2026",
      "title": "The Trillium reports the script",
      "detail": "The Trillium publishes its report on the leaked draft and the Education Minister’s response. Publication of the report establishes the reporting date, not whether every proposed spot was filmed or aired unchanged.",
      "kind": "reported-claim",
      "sourceIds": [
        "trillium-leaked-script"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "trillium-leaked-script",
      "title": "Ford government preparing education ads taking aim at teacher unions as contract talks grind to a halt: leaked script",
      "type": "news-media",
      "tier": "tier-2",
      "url": "https://www.thetrillium.ca/news/education-and-training/ford-government-preparing-education-ads-taking-aim-at-teacher-unions-as-contract-talks-grind-to-a-halt-leaked-script-12674031",
      "publisher": "The Trillium",
      "publicationDate": "2026-08-17",
      "retrievalDate": "2026-08-17",
      "notes": "Reporting on a leaked draft dated July 10, 2026 and labelled “Ministry of Education: Student Achievement First.” The draft uses actors playing parents to deliver government talking points about teacher pay, sick leave and possible job action. The draft itself is treated as a reported document, not proof that every talking point is true or that a final advertisement aired unchanged."
    },
    {
      "id": "oag-government-advertising-2025",
      "title": "Review of Government Advertising",
      "type": "ontario-government",
      "tier": "tier-1",
      "url": "https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en25/pa_govtad_en25.pdf",
      "publisher": "Office of the Auditor General of Ontario",
      "publicationDate": "2025-12-02",
      "retrievalDate": "2026-08-17",
      "notes": "Primary source for the 10-year spending series, the $111.9M 2024/25 record, the nine “Other Matters” campaigns totalling $43M (about 38% of total spending), and the explanation that 2015 amendments narrowed the definition of partisan advertising and removed the Auditor General’s discretion."
    },
    {
      "id": "etfo-sick-leave",
      "title": "Your Sick Leave Questions Explained",
      "type": "advocacy-org",
      "tier": "tier-2",
      "url": "https://www.etfo.ca/about-us/member-advice/prs-matters-bulletins/your-sick-leave-questions-explained",
      "publisher": "Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario",
      "publicationDate": "2017-09-01",
      "retrievalDate": "2026-08-17",
      "notes": "ETFO explains the plan as 11 sick days at 100% salary plus 120 short-term leave and disability plan days at 90%. It also states that many collective agreements set conditions for when medical documentation may be requested and that a board may request documentation where it has a reasonable basis to challenge an absence or return."
    },
    {
      "id": "government-advertising-act",
      "title": "Government Advertising Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c. 20",
      "type": "ontario-government",
      "tier": "tier-1",
      "url": "https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/04g20",
      "publisher": "Government of Ontario",
      "retrievalDate": "2026-08-17",
      "notes": "Current statute governing reviewable Ontario government advertising. The Auditor General’s 2025 review explains the effect of the 2015 amendments on the review standard."
    }
  ],
  "lastUpdated": "2026-08-17"
}