Conservatives not pushing for an election despite attack ads: Armstrong

By Chris Dowbiggin

Amherst Daily News

Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Tories releasing political  advertisements attacking opposition parties on Monday, Cumberland County Conservative MP Scott Armstrong says the ads are not a definitive hint there will be a federal election in the near future.
Instead, Armstrong said the ads are merely showing the other parties they are ready to campaign at any time.
“We’re not pushing for a real campaign,” said Armstrong.
“It just shows we’re ready for a campaign. In fact, we’re going to bring down a budget, which we intend to pass. Hopefully the opposition will pass that. But the Prime Minister is very clear he doesn’t want an election, and he didn’t put anything in the budget that would cause one.”
The five advertisements bear a resemblance to Harper’s previous ad spots during the 2008 election campaign, and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff responded to the ads by calling them “rubbish” and stating they were nothing more then Harper’s creations for his own “personal destruction”.
Mt. Allison University Political Scientist Dr. Tamara Small said she gives Harper a lot of credit for the ads from a strategic point of view, but is unsure of what, if anything, they are leading up to.
“It’s hard to know if this is just an attempt to get the media riled up,” said Small.
“The real issue here is that the only time it would be possible for an election would be in the next six months, It’s not going to happen in the second half of this year because of all the provincial elections. So I’m not sure if everyone is getting whipped into a frenzy, and I’m not sure if this is real, legitimate election talk.”
However, Nova Scotia NDP MLA Brian Skabar believes these advertisements are a big indication for action to soon take place.
“Frankly, I thought we would have seen one by now, except that most of the polls seemed to suggest there would be no change. Regardless of any flow of popular support in any of the major parties, the core seems to be reflected in the polls, who seem to be right 19 times out of 20,” said Skabar.
While the Tories’ percentage-point lead over the Liberals is less than what their minority margin was in the last election, the Conservatives still hold an eight point lead over the Liberals, 36-28, as found in a recent survey by The Canadian Press.
Armstrong said the stability the Conservatives have over the percentage-point polls is favourable to their party, because it allows Harper to keep governing the same way he always intended to do, without changing any major policies.
“If there was an election now, the only poll that would matter would be the one on election day, so I don’t think these current public polls are going to affect the way we are governing the nation as of now.”