On the Hill, it’s Game on!

Are they telegraphing their punches or taking the first shots in the upcoming battles?

The Conservatives kicked off a new session of Parliament with some visual aids, in the form of some early round attack ads all designed to welcome the new leader of the Liberal party to the House of Commons. The television launch acted as the teaser campaign for what was to follow in the first session of Parliament for 2007, with a loud and boisterous session of Question Period.

Normally the thing of the last stages of an election campaign, the ads take the very words of Mr. Dion’s contemporaries for the leadership and turn them back on them, a rather sneaky but effective way to pain the new leader into a corner right form the get go.

It marks the return of the political season to the national capital, the season of peace and good will giving way to the snarky, snide and salacious. No doubt it’s a bit of payback for the Liberals scare em wherever they are campaign of the last election, which in some ads all but promised troops on Canadian streets should a Harper government get elected. And while the Harper crew knocked and entered the doors at 24 Sussex, the only streets that Canadian troops are engaged on are the streets and paths of Afghanistan, and originally sent there by the Liberals to boot!

The new salvo in the political debate should set the tone for the remainder of the political calendar, with a budget destined our way shortly and no doubt a pre election one at that, the time is fast approaching to stake out your political turf. Credit the Tories with a being the first ones out with the shovels, ready to dig their foxholes (and other forms of dirt) and prepare for the political battles to come. But there may be a danger to some blow back due to the negativity of their early messages.

In the meantime, if you work for an advertising agency this could be the golden year for the operation, re-loaded with cash and ready to spend, Canada’s political parties are set to provide only the best in revenue streams for the advertising world.