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In the final 10 days of the federal election campaign, the two leading parties are going negative to get their message across. With most polls indicating that Paul Martin’s Liberals and Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are locked in a statistical dead heat, neither party leader is passing up any opportunity to punch holes in his opponent’s credibility.
 Mr. Clueless Stephen Harper |
But, perhaps, the Tories reached a new low earlier today when they issued a party press release with a headline reading: Paul Martin Supports Child Pornography?. Although, later in the day — following a media backlash against the headline — the Tories withdrew the bizarre claim that Prime Minister Martin favours child pornography, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper didn’t back down from the substance of the party news release.
“I’m not going to, in any way, give the Liberal Party any break in its record on child pornography,” Harper told reporters at a campaign stop in Drummondville, Québéc. “It is disgraceful, they have had multiple opportunities to do something about it, and they have refused.” Asked about the ‘taste’ of the headline, Harper said: “What’s in bad taste is the Liberal Party’s record on child pornography.”
“I will not make excuses on it, I will attack them on it, and if (the Liberals) want to fight the rest of the election on it, good luck to them,” he heatedly said before stepping back on his campaign bus.
Tim Murphy, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said: “Obviously the statement … is a ridiculous one in a world where right and wrong is pretty clear. And it’s unfortunate when this kind of thing happens.”
On the Liberals’ own website, they point out that their party, working with MPs from all sides of the house, toughened the criminal code in 2002 to protect children from sexual exploitation, passed a bill mandating tougher penalties for those convicted of child pornography, and passed Bill C-16, creating a national sex offender database. Note is made that the Reform / Alliance / Conservatives voted almost en masse against Bill C-12, improving the protection of children from pornographic exploitation.
Quote of The Day
In describing Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper …
“A radical, neo-conservative, Americanophilic Conservative Leader, with hidden agendas peeking out of every pocket, himself in thrall to a powerful but alien Alberta populist Premier, and propped up in the House by a cabal of separatist Québéc MPs, will impose a decentralizing, Republican agenda on (Canada) unless they are stopped.” — John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail.
The quote above is placed in a particular context; read the full article here.
How Are The Papers Covering The Campaign?
 four federal leaders of the apocalypse |
As part of the Globe and Mail’s ongoing analysis of the 2004 Canadian Federal Election — in a project undertaken with the Observatory for Media and Public Policy at McGill University — the OMPP panel found that although most voters didn’t watch the leaders’ debate earlier in the week — and even though most voters learned about them through newspapers and newscasts — a majority of voters felt that NDP leader Jack Layton and Tory leader Harper were the debate winners.
The finding stands in contrast to the largely neutral coverage given Harper by the media, the negative coverage received by Layton, and the generally positive coverage given to Martin’s performance. Still, as an Ipsos-Reid poll found, “Voters were relatively less impressed with Mr. Martin, and more approving of Mr. Harper and Mr. Layton.” Strange, but true.
CPAC – Canada’s Political Channel
 CPAC’s Ken Rockburn |
For some days now, VanRamblings has been meaning to point you towards CPAC, Canada’s self-described political channel, which provides comprehensive coverage of national politics and current affairs, usually on television, but as well as a video streaming (Windows Media Player required) service.
During the course of the election campaign, veteran journalist and broadcaster Ken Rockburn not only has his own CPAC blog, but finds himself travelling across Canada interviewing Canadians about the upcoming vote on June 28th.
Most days, you’ll see Ken on the campaign trail, talking to Canadians from across our vast country, about the federal election, what issues are of paramount importance to them, and what these Canadians would wish to see for our country. This is grassroots public broadcasting, and often fascinating to watch.
More and More Political Blogs
Each and everyday, Jim Elve — the very able, hard-working and articulate administrator of BlogsCanada (and I thought I had a high energy level; compared to Jim, I’m asleep) — posts more and more political weblogs, at BlogsCanada’s Canadian Political Index site.
One site Jim Elve pointed to awhile back on the E-Group Election Blog on BlogsCanada, was Canada Votes 2004, aimed primarily (it would seem) at younger voters.
Jim also points VanRamblings’ readers towards Daily Kos, one of the US’ most popular blogs (150,000 visitors/day), which has a couple of ongoing discussions on the Canadian election: one here and another here.
Election Headlines of the Day
- Paul Martin launched an offensive today over Alberta Premier Ralph Klein’s plan to privatize delivery of medicare services, in the Globe and Mail story Health battle escalates as leaders trade barbs.
- Canadian Press reports New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton wrestling with a post-election scenario in a story headlined NDP would work with any party.
- In a story headlined Canadian prisoners exercise right to vote, the CBC presented a story on inmates registered to vote in the June 28 election, following rules laid out by Elections Canada, exercising a new right granted to them (and opposed by Conservative leader Stephen Harper) by a 2002 Supreme Court of Canada ruling. A RealPlayer streaming video of the story is available here.
