I was listening to the Moncton candidates give speeches on Rogers last night and I was about to change the channel when Marie-Claude Blais started speaking. She was obviously nervous and as much as I don’t like young people running for politics I have to admire her courage. It’s not an easy thing to share the podium with the wily ol’ Mike Murphy or go door to door.
She had a lot to say – mainly repeating Bernard Lord’s name over and over again – but at one point she stopped and said in English something like this: “I have two kids and my kids aren’t the worst in Canada” – in a faltering voice.
I was stopped in my tracks. I had visions of the Tories putting armed soldiers in our streets – we can’t make this stuff up.
First, the Tories don’t want to even mention the challenges facing New Brunswick (not a word in their platform) but now if you do mention anything negative you are attacking our children.
How low will you go to win?
Shawn Graham, we are told, thinks our kids are the worst in Canada. He hates them. He insults them. He belittles them.
As I said before, while I think this line of attack may work somewhat, I think it represents a new low in New Brunswick politics.
I didn’t hear Rodney in Nova Scotia’s recent election say the Liberals were insulting Nova Scotians by raising relevant and timely issues for debate.
Come to think of it, the federal Liberals did everything they could to make Stephen Harper look ‘scary’ (a ridiculous strategy) but they never accused him of insutling and belittling Canadian children.
Political attacks happen in politics. People sling dirt around. But there must be some limit. There must be some no go areas.
Once again, Premier Lord has shown he is a master political tactician. He announced calmly before the election started that he thought it would get nasty. He wanted to prepare us for this reality.
He just never said it would be him and his Party that would be getting nasty.