TORONTO – It’s too little, too late for Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals, according to one political scientist.
As the Liberals watch their support shrink against a surging NDP, the party is making what appears to be a last ditch efforts to win over voters, just one week before Canadians head to the polls on May 2.
On Sunday, a 30-minute Liberal-sponsored advertisement aired across Canada on two English language networks.
The television special, dubbed the “Town Hall for Canada,” starred a sympathetic, visionary Michael Ignatieff talking directly to Canadian middle class families about health care, the economy, the environment and education.
But was anyone actually watching?
“My own feeling is not that many people tuned in to watch it… and those that (did) see it have already decided how they’re going t vote,” said Nelson Wiseman, a politics expert and associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto.
The slickly produced ad blended footage of Ignatieff fielding questions at campaign events and one-on-one interviews with the leader against a postcard-perfect lakeside backdrop.
It aired at 12:00 p.m. ET on Easter Sunday, precisely the moment when many of the middle class families the Liberals are courting would have been settling around the table for lunch.
Wiseman says the ad effectively communicated Ignatieff’s passion and transparency in contrast to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, but the intended effects of the Liberal infomercial will be minimal at best.
“The impact (will be) marginal. Ads tend to reinforce people’s opinion rather than change them,” Wiseman said.
“I fear for the Liberals it’s too little, too late.”
Wiseman says the real test of Ignatieff’s resonance with Canadians will come Sunday evening when he appears on the wildly popular Quebec talk show Tout le monde en parle.
It’s estimated one third of Quebecers tune in to the show every Sunday evening. The program has a tendency to make or break political careers. Harper has declined to appear on the show.
“His (appareance ) on Toute le monde tonight will have a much greater impact. The audience will be much larger. The show will have that unpredictability, the spontaneity where they (the Liberals) don’t get to put in their own questions,” Wiseman said.
Wiseman speculates the Grits’ decision to run the 30-minute special has more to do with dollars and cents rather than common sense.
“A half hour on Sunday at noon, when not all that many people are watching… is probably a lot cheaper than several 30-second ads on five networks during prime time.”
“I think many more people tuned in to The Simpsons which is on (Global) right after.”
Watch the Liberal’s "Town Hall for Canada" video on YouTube:
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