"the most vicious, baseless" attack ads that Canadians have ever seen.
Conservatives lash back over television attack ads
Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
OTTAWA -- The Conservatives are lashing out at the federal Liberals over a series of "unprecedented" attack ads they say are dishonest and mean-spirited.
Tory critic Jason Kenney called the ads "the most vicious, baseless" attack ads that Canadians have ever seen.
Kenney singled out one imposing ad that states Conservative Leader Stephen Harper would put "soldiers with guns" in Canadian cities.
"A government led by Stephen Harper, they imply, could be a threat to democracy and would use Canadian troops...to impose something like martial law," Kenney told a news conference Wednesday.
"This is how low Paul Martin is prepared to go. This is completely unacceptable to Canadians' sense of basic decency and fairness."
He said the idea that Harper would use Canadian soldiers against their own people is "beyond contempt." He demanded an apology from Martin.
The Liberals have said the soldiers ad was pulled before it was ever broadcast.
But the Conservatives said Wednesday the ad continued to run in Quebec -- where a longstanding mistrust of the military was underscored when martial law was imposed by a Liberal government during the FLQ crisis of 1970.
The Tories say the ad was also broadcast in English Canada before it was pulled.
"To imply that our men and women, who are citizens of our country who volunteer to protect our sovereignty and security, would somehow be used to interfere with our rights is just outrageous," said Tory defence critic Gordon O'Connor.
O'Connor, a retired general, drafted the Conservative plan to post 100 regular troops and 400 reservists in major Canadian cities as a security measure for emergencies such as floods, ice storms or earthquakes.
"They're not intended there to occupy the cities," he said. "They're there to help the provinces. They're citizen soldiers, just like you and I."
Tory finance critic Monte Solberg also took issue with what appears to be a leaked copy of the Liberal party platform.
The document includes a pledge to seek an international deal to permanently ban weapons in space under a re-elected Liberal government.
He said the leak is evidence that the Liberals cannot keep information confidential -- and tied it to an apparent leak of information about income trusts, which is under RCMP investigation.
He noted that the document was created seven hours before Monday's English-language leader's debate in which Martin promised to scrap Parliament's right to use the notwithstanding clause to overrule Supreme Court decisions.
Yet the document, he said, contained no reference to the policy.
"Like so many other Liberal promises in this campaign...the Martin Liberals are making it up as they go along," Solberg said.
"Making it up as they go along is just not good enough. The Liberal party is in disarray."
Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
OTTAWA -- The Conservatives are lashing out at the federal Liberals over a series of "unprecedented" attack ads they say are dishonest and mean-spirited.
Tory critic Jason Kenney called the ads "the most vicious, baseless" attack ads that Canadians have ever seen.
Kenney singled out one imposing ad that states Conservative Leader Stephen Harper would put "soldiers with guns" in Canadian cities.
"A government led by Stephen Harper, they imply, could be a threat to democracy and would use Canadian troops...to impose something like martial law," Kenney told a news conference Wednesday.
"This is how low Paul Martin is prepared to go. This is completely unacceptable to Canadians' sense of basic decency and fairness."
He said the idea that Harper would use Canadian soldiers against their own people is "beyond contempt." He demanded an apology from Martin.
The Liberals have said the soldiers ad was pulled before it was ever broadcast.
But the Conservatives said Wednesday the ad continued to run in Quebec -- where a longstanding mistrust of the military was underscored when martial law was imposed by a Liberal government during the FLQ crisis of 1970.
The Tories say the ad was also broadcast in English Canada before it was pulled.
"To imply that our men and women, who are citizens of our country who volunteer to protect our sovereignty and security, would somehow be used to interfere with our rights is just outrageous," said Tory defence critic Gordon O'Connor.
O'Connor, a retired general, drafted the Conservative plan to post 100 regular troops and 400 reservists in major Canadian cities as a security measure for emergencies such as floods, ice storms or earthquakes.
"They're not intended there to occupy the cities," he said. "They're there to help the provinces. They're citizen soldiers, just like you and I."
Tory finance critic Monte Solberg also took issue with what appears to be a leaked copy of the Liberal party platform.
The document includes a pledge to seek an international deal to permanently ban weapons in space under a re-elected Liberal government.
He said the leak is evidence that the Liberals cannot keep information confidential -- and tied it to an apparent leak of information about income trusts, which is under RCMP investigation.
He noted that the document was created seven hours before Monday's English-language leader's debate in which Martin promised to scrap Parliament's right to use the notwithstanding clause to overrule Supreme Court decisions.
Yet the document, he said, contained no reference to the policy.
"Like so many other Liberal promises in this campaign...the Martin Liberals are making it up as they go along," Solberg said.
"Making it up as they go along is just not good enough. The Liberal party is in disarray."
