Jason Fekete
Duplicates: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon); National Post; Ottawa Citizen.
As MPs return to Parliament on Monday, the federal Conservative government
is launching into a more aggressive attack mode to brand NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and his party as risky to the Canadian economy.
The NDP, however, is vowing to fight the Tory spin machine and highlight
what it says is the government's increasingly abysmal record on the economy
during a time of stubbornly high unemployment and a record trade deficit.
While some of the government's attacks on Mulcair are bordering on
comical, political observers note the Conservatives' past efforts to brand
previous Liberal leaders were successful and they'll look to tap that strategy
once more against Mulcair and the official Opposition NDP .
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and several senior Conservative cabinet
ministers have launched into coordinated attacks against Mulcair in recent days.
They insist his policies would destroy the economy with a carbon tax
impacting everything, that he hates lower taxes, and that he wants to divide the
country and shut down the oilsands that's helping drive the Canadian economy.
Much like they successfully did to former Liberal leaders Stephane Dion
(with attack ads insisting he's "not a leader") and Michael Ignatieff (ads
saying he's "just visiting"), the Conservatives are hoping to box Mulcair and
the NDP into a corner and influence public opinion years before the next federal
election, expected in 2015.
The Conservatives are focusing their attacks on what they maintain is
Mulcair's support for a carbon tax or carbon pricing of some sort that would
cripple the already fragile Canadian economy.
Mulcair doesn't endorse a straight carbon tax on fuels, but is calling for
a cap-and-trade emissions reduction scheme based on a principle that "polluters
pay" - a system similar to what the Conservative government previously supported
in conjunction with the United States.
The NDP says the money from the program would be invested in green
technology and infrastructure, but the government believes the opposition's
carbon policies would damage the economy.
"We will have a busy parliamentary session ahead of us. Our government's
priorities will be, obviously continue to be, the economy, given the uncertainty
of the world economy. We are focused on the creation of good jobs, growth and
long-term prosperity for Canadians," Harper told reporters last week during a
stop in Quebec.
"It's a very different focus than the opposition, which is focused on a
carbon tax and increasing taxes, and obviously there's a very fundamental
difference between us."
Also last week, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver - during a gathering
of the country's energy ministers - fired off his own unprompted attack against
Mulcair and the NDP.
"That (carbon pricing) is something that the NDP has advanced and we
consider that attacks on everything and therefore attacks on everyone, which
would slow down economic growth and kill jobs," Oliver said.
Peter Julian, the NDP's energy critic, said the Tory messaging campaign is
simply spewing misinformation and is an act of "sheer desperation."
"The Conservatives are facing something which I think they've never faced
before which is a very strong official Opposition that is united and has very
clear positions on a variety of issues," Julian said.
Ryerson University media expert Greg Elmer has been tracking the
progression of Conservative attacks against the NDP and suggests the strategy is
different from the ones used against Ignatieff and Dion.
In an attempt to prove the NDP isn't ready to govern, the Conservatives
have zeroed in on things like Mulcair's temper and the ability of the team that
surrounds him.
While he expects such personal attacks to come up again, the party seems
to be taking a different tack and is now focusing on the issues.
"The thing about Tom Mulcair is he has very strong language skills and
communications skills," he said.
"To directly attack, to personalize many of those attacks against one
individual, symbolically, with those skill sets, I think, might be a danger for
the Conservatives."
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NDP Critic for Canadian Heritage Peter Julian issued the following statement:
"It has come to our attention that a consultant for a federally funded anti-racism project has a disturbing track record of spewing hate speech online against Jewish and francophone communities. This is completely unacceptable. We call on the Minister of Heritage to take drastic action and terminate his contract.
NDP Heritage Critic Peter Julian issued the following statement:
“Today’s announcement by Hockey Canada is another attempt to delay the important and urgent work to deal with the toxic culture in this organization. While a former Supreme Court Justice is a credible appointment to conduct the review into Hockey Canada, this won’t be the first time the organization undergoes this process.
NDP critic for Canadian Heritage, Peter Julian, made the following statement:
“Canadians are horrified by the incidents of sexual assault and by what they’re hearing from Hockey Canada. They are left with many questions about how this toxic culture is allowed to persist in our sports organizations and what the government is actually doing to ensure this doesn’t happen again.