The Liberal Party launched thousands of new advertisements on Facebook and Instagram in the first week of campaigning for the federal election.

Mark Carney’s party launched 4,430 new campaigns on the two Meta platforms between March 23 and March 29. The Conservatives, by comparison, launched 44 new campaigns in the same period. Taking into account new ads launched in the first week of the election campaign and existing campaigns still running, the Liberals spent $676,647 and the Conservatives $623,985 according to data from EOK Consults. The NDP, led by Jagmeet Singh, spent $22,882 in the same period.

The Logic’s analysis of Meta Ad Library data is based on new campaigns launched on Instagram and Facebook in a given period—and the actual spend recorded for them. There can be multiple versions of a single ad, which Meta counts as multiple campaigns.

In the first three weeks of March before the election was called, the Liberals spent $355,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads and the Conservatives $865,000 according to data from Meta’s Ad Library.

The Liberals have run a higher volume and variety of ads on Facebook and Instagram in recent weeks. Since the start of the year, the party has run almost 10,800 different campaigns on the two Meta platforms. That figure includes ads from the party’s main page and on the pages of Carney and former party leader and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have run just over 3,460 campaigns in 2025, with around 170 of them running on leader Pierre Poilievre’s Facebook and Instagram profiles.

Harneet Singh, a digital strategist and political advisor at EOK Consults, said online advertising may have a bigger impact than usual on this election, given how short the campaign period is. “The parties which do a good job there will definitely have an advantage,” said Singh. 

Other online platforms have restricted political advertising on their platforms in Canada, following ad transparency legislation Ottawa enacted in 2019. Google and Google-owned YouTube don’t allow political ads in the country during election campaigns, while X has banned political ads in Canada entirely. TikTok doesn’t allow political ads at all. That’s left Meta, which itself has banned all news on Facebook and Instagram since the summer of 2023, as the only Big Tech firm political parties can advertise with during an election campaign.

The Conservatives didn’t respond to The Logic’s questions until after publication. Conservative spokesperson Simon Jeffries pointed to related analysis that shows both parties continuing to spend large sums on Meta platforms. He added the party would continue to share its message “across platforms.”

Liberal spokesperson Carolyn Svonkin said in an email that the party is “running a modern campaign that aims to reach Canadians where they are—both in their communities and through digital platforms.”

The Liberals also appear to be running a more targeted ad campaign on Facebook and Instagram. Meta allows advertisers to direct their messages at specific audiences based on factors like their demographics, location and personal interests. “Things like social issues, things like first-time homebuyers, things like healthcare—you can find people who care about those things based on their online behaviour on Meta and the Liberal party is definitely leveraging all of those options,” said Singh.  

On March 31, for example, the Liberals started running more than 110 ads from Carney’s Facebook and Instagram pages to promote the party’s housebuilding policy. The ads used a range of different messaging in English and French and targeted specific demographics and locations. On other days, the Liberals ran similarly targeted campaigns about economic and trade war policies. The Conservatives, by comparison, have seemingly favoured running broader campaigns that repeat the same messaging.

“At this point, I do not see any evidence that [the Conservatives] are using interest-based targeting” on Facebook and Instagram, said Singh. He said that’s a missed opportunity to reach people on specific issues that could influence voting. “If you have a great housing policy then Meta allows you to find people who care about housing,” he said. “Why would you not reach out to them?” 

Singh, who works on digital campaigns across the political spectrum, said the Liberals may be focused on Facebook advertising because that’s where their voter base is. He said Boomers—people aged between 61 and 79—are most active on the platform. That generation is also the most concerned about dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump this election, which is the top issue for Liberal voters, according to Abacus polling data.

Editor’s Note, 6:39pm ET: This story has been updated to include advertising spend and number of campaign launches by the major political parties and to clarify the data provided by the Meta Ad Library.

Editor’s Note, 2:14pm ET: This story has been updated to clarify that it analyzed spending allocated for new advertisements launched during the first week of the election campaign.