NDP fires ad salvo at Tories, Liberals

Stephen Harper's Ottawa is broken - and the NDP wants to make sure Canadians know that.

Jack Layton and his team launched three televisions ads Monday morning: one to run nationally and one each for Ontario and British Columbia attacking the Harper government, and also the Liberals, for supporting the controversial HST and lacking leadership on issues including seniors.

"We have to do better," says a casual looking Jack Layton, sleeves rolled up and tie loosely knotted. The NDP Leader contends that only he and his MPs represent the real feelings of Canadians, especially over the HST.

The ads are designed, according to NDP officials, to put the pressure on the Tories in advance of the federal budget, widely expected March 22.

Mr. Layton met recently with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to give him his budget wish-list. Although the meeting was described as "cordial," it's not clear yet - and probably won't be until the budget vote - how successful Mr. Layton, or Mr. Harper, were in finding common ground.

It takes all three opposition parties to defeat the budget, which would plunge the country into a federal election campaign. Michael Ignatieff's Liberals and the Bloc Québécois have all but said they will not support it, but the NDP has not said definitively what it will do.

"The ads will run nationally with a heavy emphasis in battleground B.C. and Ontario," NDP national campaign director Brad Lavigne said. "The ads are running now in the immediate run-up to the budget, expected in three weeks."

The national ad, he said, "calls on Stephen Harper to get serious about getting things done in the budget on seniors and health care."

The two provincial ads, meanwhile, "focus on trust, specifically when it comes to affordability issues." They target concerns in Ontario and especially British Columbia over the harmonized sales tax.

In them, Mr. Layton picks up on the fact the NDP voted against the HST yet the Liberals and Conservatives voted for it, despite public opposition to the policy. "Canadians should be able to trust the people they send to Ottawa," Mr. Layton says.

"We are reminding Canadians that in the middle of a recession every Conservative and Liberal MP voted to bring in the HST," Mr. Lavigne noted.