Not to be outdone, the NDP released new attack ads today, both of which use its now-signature, creepy animation style. But these ads are quite different for one very interesting reason.
That’s right – the ads go after Ignatieff even though Layton swore at the beginning of the campaign that the target was Harper. As well, the NDP has been aggressively using both Ignatieff’s voting record and his attendance figures in the past couple of weeks; many people have commented that Layton’s unleashing his attack on Ignatieff was one of the memorable moments from last night’s debate.
Alas, it’s not exactly true. Not only are the figures the NDP is using not entirely correct, they’re also not put in their proper context. The voting record has nothing to do with attendance (Ignatieff is generally pretty good about being in the House for question period from Monday to Thursday every week) and a lot of these votes are procedural or on private member’s business, which the prime minister and leader of the opposition largely don’t vote on. In addition to that, he was often away in the evenings, when many of these votes happened, to be at fundraisers and do the rebuilding his party desperately needed. Not that the NDP wants to mention that (Ignatieff should have been able to articulate that last night).
This ad is another attack on Ignatieff using a number of issues, once again, taken out of context. Corporate tax cuts? (They were voted on prior to a recession and deficit.) Afghanistan? (It’s not like we don’t have international obligations to uphold.) The HST? (Provincial jurisdiction.) But hey, it doesn’t have to be true – it just has to sound plausible, right?
Why you can trust Xtra
