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I think my first real political memory is from a television commercial. I remember seeing it on TV and my dad being disgusted. I'm pretty sure I saw it again a number of times on the news.
It was an anti-chretien PC ad that said 'Is this the face of leader?", with an implied emphasis on his facial appearance.
I was still pretty young, and not at all interested in politics, but even I recognized the commercial to be excessive. But what was worse, I remember watching Chetien give a dramatic, God thanking, dramatic speech in response, and thinking of how many votes the PCs had generated for the Liberals.
Politically speaking, the Conservatives have 'made good' on campain promises (albiet in some hollow ways), while I think many liberals (MPs and everyday Canadians) are waiting and hoping for the Conservatives to screw up something big. So far, they haven't, although I think these ads are on that 'back-fire' line.
Dion has been making a bunch of noise and doing much politicking, with attention placed on getting attention with marginal substance. The content 'attacking' Dion is sound, but the delivery and the timing seems way off. However, the current Conservatives are in power less on thier merits than on a lack of trust/dissillusionment with the Liberals. A united and strong Liberal party could topple the current governmnet and form the next one. The die-hard Cs and the die-hard Ls are not going to change. The casual voter, the swing voter (such as my Communist wife who voted NDP because she won't vote conservative and distrusted the liberals) would have noticed the momentum that Dion has been gaining. It will be interesting to see how Harper and crew handle having a strong leader of the opposition.
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