Ottawa

Clearly, someone at Tory HQ thinks the "Ottawa NDP" thing will play well out west, huh?

By Kady O'Malley

That’s the most plausible explanation for yesterday’s curiously worded press release from the Little Shop of Tories yesterday  – which landed in reporters’ inboxes just as the Conservative campaign plane was landing in Saskatchewan, and why it then showed up later in Stephen Harper’s stump speech last night in Surrey, British Columbia, as noted by the CBC’s James Cudmore. In fact, Harper went a step further, excoriating the “Ottawa NDP” – along with the “Dion Liberals” for favouring “made-in-Ottawa solutions”.

Here’s a snippet from what was said (emphasis added by ITQ):  

 

 The Prime Minister encouraged British Columbians to cast their vote between now and October 14 for the only party certain to protect the gains the province has made over the past two and a half years.  He cautioned that the Ottawa NDP, like the Dion Liberals, favour higher taxes to fund their made-in-Ottawa solutions.

 

 Harper explained that the Ottawa NDP voted against the Conservative Government’s $1200 child care benefit, against tax relief for small business and not once, but twice against Conservative cuts to the GST.  They also worked with the Liberals to weaken the rules governing house arrest, opposed the extension of vital anti-terrorism provisions, are against ending the race-based fishery and oppose local projects to ease traffic congestion, such as widening the Port Mann Bridge. 

“The Ottawa NDP are simply out of touch with British Columbia,” concluded Prime Minister Harper.

Unfortunately for any Conservative candidates out there who are running to represent the untouchables of Eastern Canada – the Ottawa Citizen’s Glen McGregor has alerted 613-area denizens that, outside the city limits, our name is now a four letter word. ITQ wishes Ottawa Centre Tory hopeful Brian McGarry – a local boy, born and bred – the best of luck convincing voters that he would do a better job of serving their interests than the incumbent, Paul Dewar – a member of the “Ottawa NDP” when he apparently couldn’t even convince his possibly-future boss not to run down the hometown while on the road. 

So we now have the “Ottawa NDP” and the “Dion Liberals” — any other covert Conservative rebranding efforts currently underway?  If you spot ’em, share ’em in the comments.