The NDP attack video on Stephen Harper released yesterday is misleading and mean-spirited. It quotes him out of context. It comes with an ominous voiceover. It shows the prime minister in an unflattering pose – sweating like a dog.
In other words, it’s just the type of ad Stephen Harper has been using against opponents for years – and getting away with.
At long last someone is giving Mr. Harper some of his own medicine. He’ll hate it. But he had it coming.
The producers of the NDP video, which is powerful, obviously took their cue from the Conservative ads. The video has a similar pounding rhythm and use of quotes and hostile photos. The voice is unmistakably that of Megan Leslie, a rising star in the Dipper pantheon. *
The ad strikes right at the heart of the Conservatives’ supposed strength – the economy. And that’s what the opposition has to do – slow the free ride the government has been getting on that train.
On the economy, the Conservatives, despite coping with a recession, have ridden a resources boom. In terms of policy, their major initiative was to bring in – at gunpoint – an economic stimulus package. They had repeatedly said that such a Keynesian uplift was unnecessary but switched course when their livelihood was threatened by the opposition parties who demanded the spending.
The Conservatives have had resource prices working for them as well as the sorry plight of other economies. This has allowed Harper to repeat ad nauseam that the Canadian economy is in better shape than most others. It’s true that it is. But it hasn’t taken any work of genius to get it there. The fundamental Canadian conditions were better to begin with and have continued to be so.
The NDP video says that “after leading Canada into the worst recession of this generation, Conservatives have another economic downturn on their hands.” The Harper solution, it says, to the strains of a chilling beat, is “to attack the most vulnerable Canadians when they are most in need with cuts to employment insurance and cuts to your pension. Stephen Harper has created the worst deficit in Canadian history and you are paying the price.”
It’s a distortion to say the Conservatives led Canada into the recession when, given the global economic tumult, no Canadian government would have been able to avoid it. As for old age security cuts, the video neglects to mention they will not come in for another decade or so.
On the deficit question the Conservatives can be more fairly attacked because of their exorbitant pre-recession spending which wiped out much of the surplus left by the Paul Martin Liberals. In addition, the government’s elimination of two percent of the GST – a move opposed by the great majority of economists – cut a giant hole in revenues, making the deficit far worse than it would have been.
The video comes in the wake of select spots by the Conservatives which target NDP environment policies as dangerous. While low-grade, these ads didn’t go after party leader Thomas Mulcair on a personal level as did previous Harper attacks on Liberal leaders.
Attack ads in between election campaigns were a rarity in Canadian politics but Harper has made them commonplace and more in keeping with the ugly tone of politics in the United States. Liberals never had enough money in their war chest to fight back and paid a huge price. The Dippers don’t have anywhere near the financial resources of the Conservatives either. Hence what they have released is a video that they are encouraging partisans to spread far and wide.
In giving Harper a taste of his own handiwork, the video might discourage him from employing such tactics in the future. More likely, realizing that he has more funds, he will up the ante and go after opponents in an even worse way than he did in going after Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion.
The NDP video will allow the prime minister to say he is not the only one on the low road and he can use that to his advantage.
But the New Democrats had little choice. They could not sit back and take it on the chin as the Liberals did for so long. Mulcair is smart to fight back hard – even if that means employing the kind of distortions the Stephen Harper party has been using for so long.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Lawrence Martin
In other words, it’s just the type of ad Stephen Harper has been using against opponents for years – and getting away with.
At long last someone is giving Mr. Harper some of his own medicine. He’ll hate it. But he had it coming.
The producers of the NDP video, which is powerful, obviously took their cue from the Conservative ads. The video has a similar pounding rhythm and use of quotes and hostile photos. The voice is unmistakably that of Megan Leslie, a rising star in the Dipper pantheon. *
The ad strikes right at the heart of the Conservatives’ supposed strength – the economy. And that’s what the opposition has to do – slow the free ride the government has been getting on that train.
On the economy, the Conservatives, despite coping with a recession, have ridden a resources boom. In terms of policy, their major initiative was to bring in – at gunpoint – an economic stimulus package. They had repeatedly said that such a Keynesian uplift was unnecessary but switched course when their livelihood was threatened by the opposition parties who demanded the spending.
The Conservatives have had resource prices working for them as well as the sorry plight of other economies. This has allowed Harper to repeat ad nauseam that the Canadian economy is in better shape than most others. It’s true that it is. But it hasn’t taken any work of genius to get it there. The fundamental Canadian conditions were better to begin with and have continued to be so.
The NDP video says that “after leading Canada into the worst recession of this generation, Conservatives have another economic downturn on their hands.” The Harper solution, it says, to the strains of a chilling beat, is “to attack the most vulnerable Canadians when they are most in need with cuts to employment insurance and cuts to your pension. Stephen Harper has created the worst deficit in Canadian history and you are paying the price.”
It’s a distortion to say the Conservatives led Canada into the recession when, given the global economic tumult, no Canadian government would have been able to avoid it. As for old age security cuts, the video neglects to mention they will not come in for another decade or so.
On the deficit question the Conservatives can be more fairly attacked because of their exorbitant pre-recession spending which wiped out much of the surplus left by the Paul Martin Liberals. In addition, the government’s elimination of two percent of the GST – a move opposed by the great majority of economists – cut a giant hole in revenues, making the deficit far worse than it would have been.
The video comes in the wake of select spots by the Conservatives which target NDP environment policies as dangerous. While low-grade, these ads didn’t go after party leader Thomas Mulcair on a personal level as did previous Harper attacks on Liberal leaders.
Attack ads in between election campaigns were a rarity in Canadian politics but Harper has made them commonplace and more in keeping with the ugly tone of politics in the United States. Liberals never had enough money in their war chest to fight back and paid a huge price. The Dippers don’t have anywhere near the financial resources of the Conservatives either. Hence what they have released is a video that they are encouraging partisans to spread far and wide.
In giving Harper a taste of his own handiwork, the video might discourage him from employing such tactics in the future. More likely, realizing that he has more funds, he will up the ante and go after opponents in an even worse way than he did in going after Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion.
The NDP video will allow the prime minister to say he is not the only one on the low road and he can use that to his advantage.
But the New Democrats had little choice. They could not sit back and take it on the chin as the Liberals did for so long. Mulcair is smart to fight back hard – even if that means employing the kind of distortions the Stephen Harper party has been using for so long.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Lawrence Martin
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