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Editorial: Ad attacks

Canada’s Parliament resumed this week, after a six-week break and in the midst of election speculation, much of it fueled by Conservative Party attack ads that started running in the middle of the month.

Canada’s Parliament resumed this week, after a six-week break and in the midst of election speculation, much of it fueled by Conservative Party attack ads that started running in the middle of the month.

It’s hard to understand why Tories say they don’t want an election, yet they release ads that attack Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff.

The first ads took out-of-context comments Ignatieff made years ago to depict him as an opportunist who loves the United States more than Canada. They portrayed Ignatieff as a man only interested in himself, using the Liberal party and Canadians as a vehicle to gaining power.

The Liberals launched their own ads soon after. One criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to purchase 65 fighter jets for $16 billion and the other focused on the government’s plan to proceed with a fresh round of corporate tax cuts.

The difference? Conservatives attack Ignatieff. Liberals attack government decisions.

Conservatives countered with two new ads last week that were posted on the party’s website. The ads purport to ask Ignatieff whether it makes sense during a period of fragile economic recovery to force “an unnecessary election” or to “raise taxes on job creators.” They then cut to a video clip of Ignatieff shouting “Yes, yes, yes.” The clip is taken from a speech Ignatieff delivered at a Liberal caucus meeting.

The ads went viral within minutes of being posted and sparked a heated debate in the blogosphere. A number of commentators suggested the ads “jumped the shark,” a phrase commonly used to describe a television show that has declined into utter absurdity. After what has been described as a torrent of criticism, even from some conservative commentators, the party pulled the ads just a day after posting them.

The Conservative ads use misleading quotations, half-truths, unflattering images, lurid colours and grainy footage. They are described by many Canadians as repulsive, vicious, mean-spirited personal attacks that go beyond the boundaries of civilized political debate. The two ads posted on the Conservative’s website have generated a backlash, with many commentators noting that the Tory attack machine has gone too far.

Political parties defend attack ads by saying they work, despite little evidence they do. What is becoming clear, as the Conservatives raise the nastiness level in the country, is that Canadians are turning away from political participation and debate in droves because the arena is mean and ugly.

Recent polls indicate two things: the majority of Canadians surveyed don’t think a spring election is necessary and, while anything can happen during an election campaign, if the vote were held now, the Conservatives would once again win a minority.

Canadian voters have sent the same message in the past five years. They will give the Conservatives a minority, but not a majority. Why? Perhaps they don’t trust what a majority Conservative government would do. The attack ads, unwarranted and thuggish, only reinforce the wariness Canadians feel toward the Conservatives. It is in the party’s own best interest to cease and desist and move the political discourse back to a civilized, respectful debate about issues.