Dear Editor;
I cannot remember seeing such a plethora of ‘attack’ ads from a governing party in the more than 50 years that I have lived in Canada. These ads are not only in bad taste; they detract from whatever positive message the government should be attempting to communicate to the electorate.
I was involved with a community newspaper for 25 years. Many local politicians did not care whether we criticized their antics or not: they did care, however, if we did not write about them at all. Any publicity, be it good or bad, is publicity, and the Tories are doing M. Dion a great favour by continually mentioning his name in public. Whenever I ran a campaign for a politician, I was always careful never to mention the opposition by name; in fact, I was quite happy never to mention the opposition at all.
Personally, I am fed up with the simplistic, illogical, troglodytic approach to policy that emanates from the Conservative government. There is no intelligent debate or discussion, but merely a liturgical regurgitation of the PM’s latest edicts. The government largely consists of trained seals, and if I want to associate with trained seals, I will visit a zoo. In an age when many “Joe Lunchbuckets” (the name used by some Tories to describe the average working stiff) have at least a community college education; in an age when we have the best educated electorate in Canadian history; in an age when, unfortunately, the best and the brightest do not always participate in politics, it behooves any government to communicate its message positively, effectively, and meaningfully to the public.
The Tories are so afraid of exposing their programs to analysis and criticism that they have attempted to shut down meaningful debate. Personally, I shall not support them in the next election as a consequence of their doing this. I know that my children have already decided not to support them, for much the same reason. Many of my friends have also made the same decision. This unscientific random sample might give some readers an inkling of how these ads are being received. Give us real policy, plans, open debate and constructive ideas not cant and pap!
Peter Robertson.
Warkworth, Ont.