With the election campaign still not formally under way, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory is already going negative.
In a series of radio ads and a theatrical press conference this week, Tory directly attacked his Liberal counterpart, Premier Dalton McGuinty, by name. Tory accused McGuinty of:
Engaging in "deception" by making and then breaking a promise not to raise taxes.
Pursuing policies that "let criminals thumb their noses at the rest of us."
Playing "political games" with the electricity file and, in the process, endangering "the way we live, the way we work, and the quality of air we breathe."
Distributing taxpayers' money to "his friends" while short-changing autistic children, farmers and the health-care system.
Engaging in an "obscene" pre-election spending spree, totalling $26 billion.
As the Liberals pointed out in their response to this onslaught, Tory's rhetoric is at odds with his own previous statements that he would not be going negative.
"I will not be engaging in personal attacks," said Tory early in his mandate as PC leader. "I'm going to try to raise the bar in terms of the behaviour in politics."
Indeed, previous Conservative advertising in the run-up to the Oct. 10 election has emphasized the positive and Tory's own ideas.
Why the change in approach now? There are essentially two answers to this question:
First of all, the Conservatives are still running second in the polls, and while negative advertising is routinely deplored by the commentariat, the dirty little secret of politics is that it usually works.
Secondly, Tory and his party don't have much option because their own platform is too mushy to sustain a six-week campaign.
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