Dion has slammed Harper on the basis of trust, talking about the promises made to the Maritimes and then later broken by the prime minister. This is a good start.
But to make this framing work and change the dynamics of the elections (as will be shown by the polls), Dion and his Liberal team must constantly use the same frame, on every day of the remaining campaign, both in ads and in all speeches.
Only such a disciplined approach will help overcome the massive money advantage that the Tories have due to their fund raising and cash on hand, and hence ability to flood the airwaves with radio and TV ads.
How can we help the Liberals make this framing of Harper stick?
Perhaps by bloggers using their blogs to provide examples to the Liberals of how the general framing is illustrated by past and future actions and words of Harper and his Tories.
Let me start the ball rolling with a few suggestions…
1. Can you trust this man to maintain the strength of the federal government of Canada, and protect what has made Canada a great sea-to-sea-to-sea nation?
After all, has he not embarked on a campaign to weaken the ability of the federal government to deal with national problems by reducing the federal government’s role in favour of the provinces?
2. Can you trust this man to maintain the integrity and independence of Canada’s courts?
Has he not changed the way the appointments to our courts are made, brushing aside or ignoring independent methods to choose judges, in favour of his choosing conservative judges?
3. Can you trust this man to deal with economic uncertainty should we have a recession or a depression?
Has he not made Canada weaker by reducing the money available to the government by cutting the sales tax and other taxes?
Any others spring to mind? Have at it!
