Harper, Mulcair take aim at Trudeau as Liberals rise
Tories bring up the past in Quebec, while NDP firmly opposes TPP deal
The Conservatives and NDP are turning their sights on Justin Trudeau as the Liberals appear to be gaining momentum heading into the home stretch of this marathon federal election.
In separate campaign events Monday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair both urged voters not to elect the Liberals, who most national polls show are either tied with the Conservatives or leading the pack.
“The choice is clear,” Harper said during a stop at a family-owned apple farm in southwestern Ontario. “The choice is keeping the benefits you have under us, and getting more, or having them taken away under the Liberals and getting deficits instead.”
Mulcair, meanwhile, accused the Liberals of being no different than the Conservatives because of their refusal to categorically oppose a massive new free-trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries. The NDP leader noted the Liberals have also supported the Keystone XL pipeline, and voted for Bill C-51.
“Justin Trudeau is refusing to stand up for Canadian families,” Mulcair told supporters during a rally in Maple Ridge, B.C. “Once again, Justin Trudeau is standing with Stephen Harper.”
But with only six days until Canadians go to the polls, Trudeau was looking to seal the deal by stealing support from the Conservatives. Appearing at an event in Barrhaven neighbourhood of Ottawa, the Liberal leader called on disenfranchised Progressive Conservatives to join his movement for change.
“Progressive Conservative prime ministers believed a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,” he said. “They knew that a real leader’s job is to bring Canadians together, to unite us as one people, no matter where we were born or what we may believe. They helped the less fortunate and fought poverty.…
“Here’s the thing,” he added. “Those are values that haven’t disappeared. They have just disappeared from the current Conservative party. And disappeared along with anything progressive about them.”
The Progressive Conservatives and Harper-led Canadian Alliance merged to form the Conservative Party in 2003. Harper was selected Conservative leader the following year.
With less than a week before Canadians vote, the question now is whether Trudeau can maintain the momentum and pull off the upset win after starting this two-month campaign in third place. National polls in recent weeks have shown them pulling at least even with the Conservatives amid an NDP collapse.
The New Democrats maintain they are still in the fight. They say regional polls show them rebounding in parts of British Columbia and Quebec. But it seems their main hope is that Canadians will flock to support them over their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP, in the same way as with Bill C-51.
That’s why the NDP has started flooding the airwaves heading into the final stretch with advertisements warning of the impact of the TPP, and noting that it is the only main party to have come out entirely against it. Mulcair is also set to make a swing through southwestern Ontario on Tuesday, where auto makers are worried about the TPP.
Yet the NDP has also made several overtures toward the Liberals for working together to defeat Harper if he wins a minority government. Trudeau has so far been cool to the idea, and again repeated Monday that he was focused on winning the election and not brokering a deal with the New Democrats.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have rolled out their own set of ads. Those in English largely repeat Harper’s warning about Liberal deficits and tax measures. But the French ads highlight Trudeau’s position on the niqab, and one features footage of former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
Many Quebecers are still angry at Chrétien and the Liberals for the sponsorship scandal, in which millions of dollars were funnelled to party-friendly advertising agencies in the 1990s for little work. The Conservative ad appears designed to remind Quebecers of why they voted against the Liberals in subsequent elections.
The Conservatives hope to make some big gains in Quebec. Yet in what may be a sign that victory is far from assured, Harper will spend Tuesday touring two Conservative-held ridings in the Toronto area that his party is in danger of losing.
The Liberals have launched their own advertising blitz, featuring video of Trudeau during a large rally in Brampton, Ont., earlier this month. The ad hearkens back to an era when large-scale political rallies were common and seeks to show Canadians that Trudeau and the Liberals have momentum in this final stage.
Trudeau was scheduled to visit several ridings held by the NDP in the Toronto area before also touring southwestern Ontario.