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Insulting! Tasteless! Sad! A gutter campaign!

The critics continue to rave.

Victoria Times-ColonistThe new attack ads will surely be followed by another round by the Liberals and, at some point, the New Democrats will jump in as well. It is all so predictable — and so insulting to us all. Voters are surely capable of basing their decisions on what the parties and the politicians stand for, yet, too often, all they offer us is slagging of their rivals. That does not help us make informed decisions.

Alec Bruce. At a time when many Canadians are losing their jobs, homes and whatever remaining dignity they possess, the federal Tories’ new preoccupation with Michael Ignatieff’s bona fides is both tasteless and unworthy of a sitting government.

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. The sad thing about all of this for most Canadians, however, is that while the Tory attack ads — and the Liberal counterattacks — have replaced substantive parliamentary debate, the country’s deficit is exploding with no plan evident to bring it under control in the long run. The Harper-appointed parliamentary budget officer, Kevin Page, has been deprived of enough funding to monitor how bad things are, the separatists are running with the ammo provided by the premature campaign, stimulus money seems to be as slow to arrive as a prairie spring, and the Americans have launched an anti-Canadian trade war not seen since before the Second World War. No one seems to be paying much attention.

Geoffrey StevensInterestingly, the ads were unveiled by two senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, not from the Conservative party. They told reporters the ads would be paid for by the party and that they themselves were taking unpaid leaves of absence for the day. Let’s get real. The use of PMO officials is a calculated attempt to invest a gutter campaign against the opposition leader with authority of the head of the government.

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