— —06.27.2013 07:50 AM

Yahoo News: Harper Reformatories make themselves the (bad) story

The other reason this story is important is because it shows how very afraid the Conservatives are of the new Liberal leader.

Since Trudeau won the Liberal leadership in April, the Tories have been proactively on the attack with negative ad campaigns, regular bulletins and talking points and with members’ statements in the House all with the same message that ‘Justin Trudeau is in over his head.’

“Justin Trudeau still has them spooked,” Liberal insider and Sun News analyst Warren Kinsella wrote on his website on Tuesday morning.

“Otherwise, why make such a pathetically-transparent attempt to change the channel, orchestrated in the highest office in the land?”

The Tories’ Trudeau fears aside, this was a good story for them: Most Canadians would agree that an MP charging speaking fees to charities is just wrong. And for Trudeau to do that — even though he now is willing to pay back some of the money — made him look bad.

But by perpetuating the story in this manner, the Conservatives have made a bad news story about Justin Trudeau into a bad news story about themselves.

6 Comments


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    Patrice Boivin says:
    June 27, 2013 at 8:12 am

    Is that story telling me that PMO staff have a top secret clearance giving them access to information of a national security interest but don’t know the clear delineation between the PMO and a political party? None of the friends of the political party are from outside Canada, are they?

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    Bluegreenblogger says:
    June 27, 2013 at 9:59 am

    I am still hoping that Trudeau can work out a deal to speak for free for the Grace Foundation. The publicity would be endless, and it would turn the early narrative on its head. They could hardly fail to raise lots of money if Trudeau unleashed a volunteer army to sell tickets, and Trudeau could more plausibly roll out a long list of charities that he has helped free of charge. From charity gouger to maligned charitable powerhouse.

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      Moe Lavigne says:
      June 27, 2013 at 11:13 am

      Bingo! It might even be carrier live on national TV… imagine the CPC migraines that would cause!

      Reply

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    PeggyW says:
    June 27, 2013 at 10:09 am

    I was listening to some Conservative commentator the other day discussing the whole “PMO protestor” thing, and I don’t know if he even uttered Justin Trudeau’s name: rather, he just kept referring to him as the “Young Prince”. Personally,’ I hope they maintain that juvenile attitude, because it means they’ll probably keep up the stupid attacks that just backfire on them and continue to turn off thinking Canadians.

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    Walter Ego says:
    June 27, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    I second (alright, “I third”) the motion. If he’s willing to devote the (considerable!) effort reauired, Mr. T should formally offer all 17 organizations he spoke for and charged the option of either a refund of his fee or a second presentation. National coverage would be virtually guaranteed for at least the opening appearance, and local coverage of each event would almost certainly be win-win for the Grits and the various organizations.

    This particular lemon the supposi-Tories have lodged at Trudeau could make some really sweet lemonade!

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      Luke says:
      June 27, 2013 at 12:36 pm

      Out of curiosity, is there not the possibility that this would come across as the strategic political calculation that it most likely would be? Maybe not to those who pay little attention to politics.

      On the other hand, one thing Trudeau is good at is being likably cheeky, and I could see this as a kind of cheeky but good natured response…

      For me, depends on how cynical I am feeling if/when it happens.

      Reply

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