Things are getting nasty in the riding of Mount Royal as the election campaign draws to a close.
“I think they’ve run a nasty campaign in this riding and again the voters can choose a positive campaign like I did or a negative campaign like he did,” said Liberal candidate Anthony Housefather.
The riding has been Liberal for 75 years but the Conservatives have gained an increasing foothold in recent elections. Stephen Harper’s first stop of the campaign was in the riding, which was once held by Pierre Trudeau.
Among the tactics Housefather pointed to were a flyer distributed by the Conservative party containing a quote from his predecessor, Irwin Cotler, saying that Stephen Harper was playing the adult in the room when it came to fighting terrorism.
Conservative candidate Robert Libman defended the ads.
“The other side is panicking and they’re worried that we’re telling the truth to our voters,” he said. “So they’re backtracking now and they’re trying to spin things differently. They ran a dirty campaign of mistruths and we’re trying to correct that with some of the literature that we put out.”
However, Cotler himself has said his quotes were taken out of context.
“What was left unsaid was the fact that I was referring to Harper’s manipulation and politicization of the anti-terrorism agenda,” he said.
Mario Jacinto Rimbao, who is running for the NDP, said the feud between Housefather and Libman could play in his favour.
“This is the last day before the election, a lot of people I’ve been talking to are fed up of these personal issues between the both of them,” he said. “I hope they realize that and vote NDP tomorrow night.”
