WHEN did government become campaigning - all the time? Our next federal election is set for Oct. 19, 2015, but if you listen to the radio, you might think it was next week given the huge number of attack ads on Thomas Mulcair the Conservative party is presently buying.
Given the Conservatives have the majority they have so long sought, and the next election is three years away, it's more than annoying to listen to the constant repetition of drive-by smears that passes for electioneering in Tory land.
The ads denounce Mulcair for his "carbon tax" plan that will allegedly cost Canadians $20 billion and "make everything you need cost more." The Tories had huge success with hanging the label of intellectual dilettante around the neck of Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff with the phrase "he didn't come back for you." Repeated early and often, Ignatieff was defined in many voters' minds by his opponent's advertising campaign, more successful even than previous attacks on Stéphane Dion for his "tax on everything."
Clearly the Tories are at it again with a vengeance, but this time they are twisting the truth till there is none left.
For the fact is, unlike Dion, Mulcair has never advocated a carbon tax. He has said he favours a cap-and-trade-plan that would provide government revenue, but that is not a tax. At least it wasn't when the Conservatives favoured such a scheme in their party platform.
If it wasn't then, it isn't now. But why let the truth get in the way of a good smear - unless ethics matter.
