A campaign mailer from Conservative Party candidate and former Surrey, B.C., mayor Diane Watts.
Former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts, now running federally for the Conservatives, is defending a party flyer that promises the Tories will "fight jihadist terrorists at home and abroad" and warns voters "will not feel secure in your bedrooms."
Ms. Watts is seeking to transition from municipal to federal politics by winning South Surrey-White Rock, but her Liberal rival says the Conservative message is fear mongering.
Not so, says Ms. Watts.
"There's no intention of fear mongering or scare tactics," she said in an interview Tuesday. "The message that has to be delivered is that the Conservative government has said and is prepared to help the people in Syria and be part of the coalition. That is the message there."
Ms. Watts said the flyer was generated and mailed by the party in Ottawa.
"On the national front, we have to be dealing with these issues. We can't get around it."
The flyer features a newspaper graphic with the headline "ISIS Urges Jihadists To Attack Canadians," plus the subhead "You Will Not Feel Secure In Your Bedrooms," credited to The National Post newspaper from Sept. 21, 2014.
"I believe that quote was made directly from ISIS [Islamic State]," said Ms. Watts.
Indeed, an article published by the newspaper on that date attributes the quote to Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who made the comments in a video that urged attacks against Canadians.
The flyer also features art of NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair with the label "Can't Afford!" and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau with the label "Just Not Ready."
Ms. Watts was a popular three-term mayor of Surrey, the province's second-largest city, and once seen as a likely successor to B.C. Liberal premier Gordon Campbell until she decided to rule out the option due to family commitments. Former education minister Christy Clark went on to win the provincial Liberal leadership.
She has said in the past that she chose to run for the Tories because she appreciated what she saw as the forthright foreign-policy stands of Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.
Asked if South Surrey-White Rock voters have raised the issue of jihadi terrorists, Ms. Watts said they have talked about the plight of people caught up in the Syrian conflict.
Judy Higginbotham, who is running for the Liberals in the riding, said Ms. Watts is pushing fear by suggesting there are terrorists in their midst.
The former long-time Surrey city councillor said national security is a "sacred trust" to every party, and the barbed rhetoric just "seems out of character" for Ms. Watts. Ms Higginbotham worked with Ms. Watts on council for many years and says she respects her as having been a largely successful mayor.
"She's entitled to her point of view. The party is entitled to its point of view, but I think the party went overboard and I think it's totally inappropriate to push the issue the way she pushed it."
She said she wondered if the flyer suggests the Tories are worried about holding the reconfigured South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale riding they won with 55 per cent of the vote in 2011, compared with 20 per cent for the NDP and 17 per cent for the Liberals.
Earlier this month, Joy Davies stepped down as the Liberal candidate due to controversial pro-marijuana comments. Ms. Higginbotham said she just became the new candidate last Thursday. She has lived in the area for 40 years and ran federally for the Liberals in 2004. She said she decided overnight to run and was green-lighted and nominated.
Ian Bailey