The Liberals have come out with their own series of pre-writ attack ads, targeting Harper’s untendered F-35 fighter jets and corporate tax cuts. The theme of the ads? The Liberals attack problems, not people. See for yourselves.
I will add this particular observation, though – Ignatieff himself is absent from both ads. It’s “Your Canada” vs “Stephen Harper’s Canada,” and Ignatieff does not lay out a vision, or anything like that. I’m forced to wonder – is it because he feels his own image is more of a detriment, or is it really about the “problems and not people” angle they’re going for?
Maclean’s Paul Wells has issued a challenge – if you see an attack ad on television, he wants you to post it on Twitter using the hashtag #sawanad, indicating the time, station, show and party the ad was for, as he plans to track the ad buys. With the previous Conservative attack ads, his #sawanad responses showed that many of the ad buys were on specialty channels like HGTV and Food Network during the day, which means they’re likely targeting stay-at-home mom types.
And how did the Conservatives respond? They sent out Pierre Poilievre to denounce them as “vicious,” “attacking job creators,” and defended their own ads by saying they make Canadians aware of Ignatieff’s own words. The NDP have said they’re not releasing their own ads, because their base apparently doesn’t like them, though it didn’t stop them from putting out a snarky press release about the Liberals (as they are wont to do, no matter how much they protest they’re going after Harper and not the Liberals).
Otherwise, today’s installment of the Toronto Star’s look at Harper’s five years in power is about his democratic record and just how little praise it earns. Over at Maclean’s, Aaron Wherry reminds us (by way of an old Montreal Gazette editorial) about Harper’s “forgotten” first prorogation.
Why you can trust Xtra
