A detail from a Tory attack ad released on Jan. 17, 2011.
1. Just visiting redux. Stephen Harper's Conservatives began airing a new series of attack ads Monday aimed at thwarting "opportunistic" Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, his " coalition partners" and their lust for a federal election.
"Actions don't lie; more tellingly, Ignatieff has just begun a national campaign-style tour, targeting seats he believes can be won by the Liberals. He's even revealed his election 'ballot question'," the Tories say on their website in explaining why they need to mount this ad campaign now. "Canadians should be in no doubt: the opportunist Ignatieff has decided that an election this Spring is his best hope of becoming Prime Minister."
The ad campaign will run in all of Canada, including Quebec. And it will highlight the fact that Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois - one of Mr. Ignatieff's potential "partners" - want to break up Canada.
"This is a national ad campaign in English and French," Tory Party spokesman Fred DeLorey told The Globe. "We don't discuss the duration, costs, or where it will run but I can tell you that the ads are factual and speak to the record of Prime Minister Harper and Ignatieff and his NDP and Bloc Quebecois Coalition partners."
Six spots have been posted on the Conservative website. Several of them are about Mr. Ignatieff's return to Canada after a 30-year absence, asserting that he "didn't come back for you." Rather, the Tories say he's back to try to take power at all costs. And to raise taxes.
Some of the ads are similar to previous ones the Conservatives crafted, focusing on Mr. Ignatieff as a political tourist and picking up on the "just visiting" line they have used so effectively against him.
Mr. Ignatieff dismissed the Conservative ads as "rubbish." Speaking to reporters after a talk to high school students in Toronto, Monday, the Liberal leader said the Conservatives resorted to taking personal shots because they were unwilling to confront the Liberal agenda.
"Look what's not in the ads," he said. "They're not attacking our family care plan, they're not attacking our early learning and child care plan, they're not attacking our plans to invest in post-secondary education... They're doing what they've being doing for years, which is personal, low-ball attacks ... and that's exactly what Canadians are tired of with Stephen Harper."
The ad salvo comes after a week of pre-election maneuvering with all four leaders on the road. Although, the leaders claim they don't want an election now, it increasingly feels like one is imminent given the ratcheting up of the rhetoric.
Mr. DeLorey maintained that his party doesn't want an election nor will it provoke one. "However, it's quite clear that Mr. Ignatieff would like an election this spring, regardless of what it means to the economy," he said. "Before Christmas he was saying it was time for an election and now he is on an election-style tour of the country targeting seats he thinks he can win."
Last week, Mr. Ignatieff launched his so-called 20/11 tour, visiting 20 ridings not held by the Liberals in 11 days. And he posed the question he wants Canadians to ask themselves whenever they go to the ballot box: Are you better off today than you were five years ago?
Mr. Harper's team marks its fifth anniversary in government this month. One of the new Tory ads, called Rising to the Challenge, shows moody pictures of a serious Prime Minister in his Langevin Block office, working late into the night. It asks why the country should kick out the government now when the economic recovery, although very fragile, is going well.
"Slowly, surely we are turning the corner," the narrator's deep and soothing voice says. "With so much at stake why would we risk changing course?"
The final ad takes aim at the " blind ambition" of NDP Leader Jack Layton, who so desperately wants power that, according to the ad, he will make deals with the separatist Bloc. "He did it before, he'll do it again - and Canada will pay the price," the Tories warn.
2. Tit-for-tat rhetoric. The Liberals were attempting to do some redefining of their own Sunday. If the dirty word for the Tories is "coalition," than the equivalent opposition barb for the Conservatives is "Tea Party."
The U.S. label is being thrown around by senior Liberals when they refer to Stephen Harper's Tories as a way to signal to Canadians that the Prime Minister and his crew are wacky, right-wingers a la Sarah Palin and her followers south of the border.
In a debate on CTV's Question Period, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae used the phrase a couple of times when referring to the Conservatives. "We have a bit of a Tea Party government," Mr. Rae said as he sparred with Peterborough Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro about the trade relationship between Canada and the United Arab Emirates and a feud over additional landing rights for two Persian Gulf airlines.
Mr. Rae had traveled to the UAE last week to see for himself what the situation was. Mr. Del Mastro accused Mr. Rae of being an "international doormat" by visiting and the Prime Minister's Office was concerned that Mr. Rae would upset diplomatic relations.
Later, in the debate he again referred to Mr. Del Mastro and the other "members of the Tea Party." He was trying to make the point that Liberals are not afraid of competition and they understand the pace of global change and competition.
With a report from John Ibbitson in Toronto