<p>VANCOUVER – There aren’t many people who would claim Stephen Harper and Jack Layton are twin brothers from different mothers.</p> <p>But the Liberals did essentially that on Monday in a new attack ad that describes the Conservative and NDP leaders as “career politicians” and places them on two sides of a spinning coin.</p> <p>The one-minute spot, called “Loonie,” says Layton and Harper teamed up in 2005 to halt a Liberal plan for national child care, stronger gun control, and better environmental protections.</p> <p>The ad warns that Harper will give public dollars to banks and oil companies, and predicts Layton would “jack up” taxes to pay for $70 billion in new spending.</p> <p>”Harper and Layton: Two career politicians. Two sides of the same coin,” a female narrator intones over a staccato piano tune.</p> <p>It’s usually the New Democrats who try to paint their foes as one and the same. But this new Grit spot tries to turn the tables on their political rivals.</p> <p>It also strikes a tone similar to Harper’s repeated warnings about the dangers of an opposition “coalition,” which the Tories have used as a stick to beat the Liberals.</p> <p>Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff all but uttered the C-word in his defence of the ad’s negative tone during a campaign stop in Thunder Bay, Ont.</p> <p>”We’re pointing out the recent political history of our country, which is Stephen Harper and Jack Layton got together to kill child care in Canada in 2005-2006,” he said.</p> <p>The New Democrat war room emailed reporters travelling with the Liberal leader, calling the new spot a “desperate measure” in the campaign’s dying days.</p> <p>The NDP also noted the Liberals are going after career politicians even as Ignatieff plans to campaign with former prime minister Jean Chretien in Toronto on Wednesday</p> <p>The ad appears designed to curb Layton’s apparent momentum in the polls, while reinforcing Ignatieff’s argument that the Liberals are the only viable alternative to Harper’s Conservatives.</p> <p>The Liberals also went after an NDP promise to derive billions this year in revenues from a cap-and-trade system on industrial polluters. Such a scheme does not yet exist and could take years to set up.</p> <p>The New Democrats have since acknowledged some programs won’t get going until the cap-and-trade system gets up and running.</p> <p>”You saw that moment where Jack Layton signs his platform, right? You saw that on TV. Then, two weeks later, he says, ‘Whoops! There’s a $3.6-billion hole here,'” Ignatieff said.</p> <p>”It doesn’t add up. We’ve been saying, you can’t, as someone who pretends to be serious about going into government, start booking money off a cap-and-trade system when the thing hasn’t even been set up.”</p> <p>He then contrasted the NDP platform to his party’s, calling the Liberal plan “serious, adult politics.”</p> <p>Meanwhile, the Liberals are appealing to supporters for help knocking on doors and manning the phones. An email from Ignatieff’s chief of staff also solicited donations.</p> <p>”In ridings that will be won or lost by just a handful of votes, the campaigns that are organizing these teams need our help right now,” Peter Donolo wrote.</p> <p>”That’s why we are raising funds to take these campaigns to victory over the next seven days.”</p> <p>With the NDP riding a sudden wave of popularity and the Conservatives flirting with the majority they’ve long coveted, the Liberals risk hemorrhaging votes on the left and right.</p> <p>Ignatieff insists that isn’t the case.</p> <p>”I don’t feel squeezed,” he said. “I feel I got running room either way.”</p>
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