Bob Rae and Ralph Goodale are trying to amass a pre-writ war chest, vowing never again to become the “defenceless victims” of attacks by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.
The Interim Liberal Leader and his deputy have launched a fundraising campaign, the proceeds of which will enable them to fight back against attempts by the Tories – and even the NDP – to define their new leader, once he or she is chosen in the spring of 2013.
In the fundraising letter, the deputy leader, Mr. Goodale, pleads for supporters to help Liberals reach their goal of raising $100,000 by midnight Friday – “our first milestone before the third quarter deadline,” he writes.
Mr. Goodale bills this as a “Strong Start Campaign.” He says it’s a “way for you to guarantee your donation goes directly to introducing our next Leader on our terms.”
“Picture this,” he writes. “It’s the summer of 2013. Liberals have just elected our next Leader. But within a week, news breaks. The Conservatives have launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign against us, again!”
Former Liberal leaders Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff were the subject of Tory attack ads, seemingly moments after they were chosen. Mr. Harper’s team spent hundreds of thousands of pre-writ dollars – they are excellent fundraisers – on television and radio campaigns to define the Grit leaders.
Tory negative ads famously portrayed Mr. Ignatieff, a former Harvard professor and former BBC journalist, as a politician who was “just visiting.” The ads painted a portrait of a man who was not committed to the country and was out-of-touch with Canadian values and ideals, having lived abroad for nearly three decades. They said he had only come back to Canada to seize power.
The Liberals never countered the ads. They were broke, and simply didn’t have the money to respond. They soon realized, however, that this was a mistake.
A senior Liberal strategist told The Globe and Mail that both Mr. Rae and Mr. Goodale have said Grits can never go back to being defined by their opponents. They argue the Liberals’ inability to react to negative personal attack ads had a devastating effect in the last two elections, so this initial fundraising campaign is aimed at fighting back.
The strategist said the Liberals had a choice between complaining about the Tory attacks or doing something about. Mr. Goodale’s fundraising note shows they’ve chosen the latter.
Cat got Tony Clement’s tongue?
Industry Minister Tony Clement did not speak – or tweet – in the Commons Monday, despite being the centre of attention.
And Bob Rae is hopping mad about it. The Interim Liberal Leader is calling Mr. Clement’s performance and that of his government “shambolic” and “disgraceful.”
In Question Period Monday, the NDP jumped all over a trove of emails between the Industry Minister and municipal officials in his Huntsville riding. New Democrats argue the correspondence shows that Mr. Clement was circumventing the approval process to ensure G8 projects got into his riding.
The Industry Minister, however, did not respond to any of the charges, leaving it all to Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister. This allowed Mr. Clement to avoid putting his foot in it.
Curiously, however, the Liberals were extremely quiet. They didn’t dive into what seems like a no-brainer and delicious fodder for opposition politicians.
Outside of the House of Commons, Mr. Rae explained why – and he did not show any restraint.
“The House of Commons in regard to this question of Mr. Clement and his activities has become a joke,” Mr. Rae charged. “... You’re getting answers of a completely robotic nature from the parliamentary secretary who’s not in a position to answer. He doesn’t know any of the answers to any of the questions. He wasn’t there, he wasn’t involved.”
“The only person who can answer these questions is Mr. Clement and he refuses, so there is absolutely no accountability with respect to how the questions are being answered – none whatsoever,” he said.
