Dawning of Day 29: political intimidation

It’s now Day 29 of the campaign and everyone should be suitably rested. Well, as rested as one can be during an election campaign. Stephen Harper is in Mississauga, Michael Ignatieff is in Halifax, and Jack Layton is in Toronto to start the day. And hey, anecdotal accounts from across the country have shown that the advance polls were busy, so that’s a good thing, right?

In keeping with the season, polling data shows that an increasing number of Catholics and Protestants are voting Conservative. Not that this should surprise anyone, given the way they’ve been increasingly pandering to that demographic over the past several years.

In less seasonal news, Liberal supporters in the Toronto riding of St Paul’s – currently held by Carolyn Bennett – found their tires slashed, cars keyed and even a few brake lines cut. Violence and political intimidation is a great way to demonstrate a devotion to democracy in our country.

Here’s a look at the tough slog that is the battle in Ajax-Pickering, where Liberal Mark Holland is up against Conservative star-candidate Chris Alexander.

Here’s a reminder that the next government will have vacancies to fill on the Supreme Court, which may give a Harper majority more freedom to install social conservatives on the bench.

Here’s a better accounting of the issue with the Soudas tapes and the construction companies that allegedly used him to try to get their guy on the Montreal Port Authority board.

Today in Bruce Carson news: in the wake of the revelation of those letters written by Guy Giorno to the ethics commissioner, the Liberals are now requesting that the lobbying commissioner take a look at Carson’s activities.

What’s this? A major business guru in this country is calling for the Conservatives to be defeated as they’ll be detrimental to our business community? You don’t say!

The Conservatives have dusted off a several-months-old attack ad against Jack Layton and put it in the rotation. The NDP have taking exception to some of the things outlined in it, perhaps because of the misquote the Conservatives were so concerned about in the Liberal healthcare attack ad. (Funny, the NDP have no compunction about using distorted voting numbers to attack Ignatieff’s “attendance record,” despite the fact that they are wrong because votes do not equal attendance.)

The Conservatives did release a new attack ad today, which is aimed at both the Liberals and the NDP (though still chiefly at Ignatieff). It is pretty low in production values and seems to be trying to reach that suburban female demographic.