More info on the top-secret Conservative ads:
MONTREAL — There’s a surprising new star making a cameo appearance in Conservative ads attacking Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff: his name is Justin Trudeau.
French-language TV ads that have begun airing in Quebec show the rookie MP blasting a few volleys of friendly fire at his leader.
The ads include clips from an interview Trudeau did during the 2006 Liberal leadership race.
“Ignatieff, he’s a little all over the place sometimes,” Trudeau says in the spot, in a clip drawn from a 2006 TV interview.
“He says this, he says that – he contradicts himself.”
Trudeau then delivers this little parting shot: “For me, he’s not someone with… maybe he has the intelligence, but maybe not the wisdom required.”
The ad’s narrator ends the spot by asking viewers: “Liberals themselves doubt (Ignatieff’s) judgment. How can we trust him?”
So, some guy who wasn’t an MP and supported another guy in a leadership race Ignatieff lost – three years ago – had some tame criticism of the front-runner. Well, colour me shocked. If you’re that desperate Tory war room, I hear Bob Rae used to berate Iggy when they were college roommates for not taking out the trash.
So, if those quotes are fair game, let’s see what the Minister of Industry has to say about Harper:
OTTAWA (CP) – Tony Clement painted Stephen Harper as a divisive, unelectable Conservative leader Wednesday in a televised debate notable for the absence of high-profile candidate Belinda Stronach.
Clement, the former Ontario health minister and acknowledged underdog in the three-way race, was clearly on the offensive against Harper. He suggested the former Canadian Alliance leader will be unable to unify Conservatives and draw Canadians outside the party to its fold.
“Stephen . . . you’ve been on the record as a wall-builder. I want to be on the record as a bridge-builder.”
Clement then accused the Calgary-based MP of proposing to build a firewall around Alberta, of writing off electoral prospects in Quebec and of badmouthing Atlantic Canadians.