Liberal ‘rise up’ rhetoric heats up attacks on Tories

REGINA – Michael Ignatieff is using increasingly heated language to argue his case that Canadian democracy is slowly eroding under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

He’s compared a Conservative attempt to annul advance ballots cast by Ontario university students to the anti-democracy tactics employed by repressive regimes in Syria and Egypt.

And in a recent stump speech, he channelled a pulpit-pounding preacher, quoting Bruce Springsteen and urging voters to "rise up" against government abuses.

The Conservatives call it desperate language from a failing campaign and gleefully circulated the, "Rise Up!" video around the Internet.

The Liberals have been consistently trailing in public-opinion polls and Ignatieff’s fire-and-brimstone performance in Sudbury, Ont., Friday night left some wondering whether he’s finally letting his frustration show.

Ignatieff laughed off a reporter’s suggestion Saturday that his choice of language might appear nutty. He chuckled and replied: "Do I look like a nut?"

He said his language is shaped by genuine outrage over the Harper government’s suppression of dissent and by his desire to convey that message to voters.

"This goes way beyond partisan politics. This is about whether we can trust the current prime minister of Canada with power," he said.

"And I’m just saying, ‘Rise up folks!’ Wakeup time. Let’s look at what’s happening here. Let’s put this whole story together and say, ‘Is this the Canada we love?"

Ignatieff is blazing through Western Canada over the weekend.

He started Saturday in Regina, where he took in a "mini round table" with children at a daycare and their parents before joining in an aboriginal pow wow at the city’s Brandt Centre.

He’s heading to Edmonton next to meet up with former prime minister Paul Martin at a rally before hopping on the plane again for Vancouver.