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After seeing the recent round of Conservative Party attack advertisements against Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff we're wondering if the Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election and nobody noticed.
We don't have a concern about tough advertisements from political parties questioning and criticizing the policies, statements and platforms of other political parties and their leaders. Politics is a tough business and - provided such advertisements are fundamentally accurate - such tactics have a place in the political arena and can be effective wooing the public and shaping debates.
However, we don't think the period between elections is really the necessary time to have a spate of attack style ads on the air.
The Conservative Party tried this tactic with previous Liberal Leader Stephane Dion. It was a successful tactic that found a lot of traction with the Canadian public.
However, just because a tactic was successful and the Conservative Party has the financial means (unlike the other federal political parties) to produce such material - that doesn't mean they should.
In the past three elections the Canadian voters have elected minority governments. Whether political parties like it or not - the voters have made it clear they expect them to work together toward a common good.
The recent Conservative ads attacking Ignatieff are hardly conducive to co-operative relations in the House of Commons. Why would Ignatieff seek to find common ground with the current government based on these recent events? How can the government attack Ignatieff in this manner and then turn around and hope his party continues to ensure that the government survives non-confidence votes in the House?
We believe these ads remind voters of what they dislike about our present political system. We feel the silly and unproductive disagreements, the cheap insults and throw the-mud-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks garbage all help turn off the voters from our political system.
We also wonder if the current Conservative government is so bereft of new ideas and policies that they have been forced to resort to these between-elections tactics to distract the public from their own lack of creative solutions for many of the country's ills.
It is abundantly clear that Canadians don't want another election at this time. They expect this parliament to work constructively on a number of measures to improve the economic health of the nation during this recession.
It's time for the Conservative Party to realize these facts and to put away their self-defeating attack ads for the time being.
There will be plenty of opportunities during the next election campaign for them to question (harshly, if they wish) Ignatieff's policies and proposals.
It's time for the government to get to work and stop wasting our time.
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