Earlier in the campaign, the Conservatives proposed a change in military deployment. In major Canadian cities, they would station about 100 regular soldiers and 400 reservists per city to respond to local natural disasters.Canadian martial law? Yeah, right. Just getting the bilingual phrase cards into the hands of both troops would take too long.
The pledge led to the Liberals' ad, Mr. Martin said, which begins with the sound of a military drumbeat and a blurred image of Mr. Harper's face. As the Conservative leader slowly comes into focus, a narrator reads words that are flashed on the screen: "Stephen Harper actually announced he wants to increase military presence in our cities.
"Canadian cities. Soldiers with guns. In our cities. In Canada. We did not make this up. Choose your Canada."
Apparently, "some idiot" approved the ads:
In British Columbia yesterday, Liberal candidate Keith Martin apologized at an all-candidates' meeting for the ad.I never heard that military ad, but I have heard on the station I listen to in the morning commute others mentioned:
"Some idiot went and sent it out with the other 11 ads, and it was never sanctioned by the party, never approved, and we are completely appalled that this went out. We apologize to the men and women in the uniform," he said.
...
Paul Martin said yesterday he personally approved his party's hard-edged television advertisements, but he insisted they are not "attack" ads that unfairly malign Stephen Harper.
Mr. Martin said the rest of the ads released on Tuesday are not unfair because all they do is cite Mr. Harper's own words -- many of which the Liberals pulled from a 1997 speech Mr. Harper delivered to a conservative U.S. think-tank.In scary voices, voters are reminded that scary American conservatives might like Stephen Harper. I had to laugh.
Harper appears on track to win.
Ooooh! Scary.
UPDATE: meant to link to Steyn for the official countdown.
