New McKenna signs opt for issues over Liberal name, colours
Ottawa Centre’s Liberal candidate, Catherine McKenna, has launched her final campaign week with a non-traditional series of singleissue lawn signs. And the New Democrats feel they are aimed largely at stopping the NDP.
Missing from the signs is any mention of leader Justin Trudeau or the Liberal name, though they carry the party logo with the letter L and a maple leaf. And they are not in traditional Liberal red.
The signs are colour-coded by issue. Voters are asked to vote for “choice” on a pink sign, for gun control on a black sign, for public service jobs on white signs.
Other signs tell voters that McKenna will promote inclusion and climate action and support measures against poverty.
An announcement from her office says the signs are designed “to highlight the progressive vision of the Liberal Party of Canada.”
David Taylor, from McKenna’s campaign, called the signs a “sort of a hyper-local reminder to voters in Ottawa Centre about the issues that we hope they are focusing on.
“It’s important for voters who are concerned about Andrew Scheer and (Premier Doug) Ford” and the prospect of spending cuts, he said.
There are roughly 50 to 100 of these signs, all in prominent spaces.
But NDP candidate Emilie Taman said that although the Liberals are publicly talking about defeating the Conservatives, their real target in Ottawa Centre is the NDP. She noted that the new Liberal signs are all staking a claim to traditional NDP policies.
“I think that because they know that this is an NDP-Liberal contest, they’re trying to skew voters into thinking that they only have two choices — Conservative or Liberal. It’s so ridiculous. We’ve been actively pushing back against that because of course the Conservatives have no chance of winning in Ottawa Centre,” she said.
“Her main opponent — me — stands for all those things as well,” Taman added, arguing that the Liberals “have done nothing with the four years they have had to improve women’s access to abortions.”
Taman said the NDP feels “really good” about its Ottawa Centre chances. Voters she sees at the door are not supporting Conservatives, she said, “so this effort to skew this into a Liberal-Conservative contest is insulting to voters.” tspears@postmedia.com twitter.com/TomSpears1