Working Families Coalition targets Patrick Brown in new attack ad
Union-funded group takes its latest swing at PC leader in effort to influence 2018 Ontario election
A union-backed campaign to keep the Progressive Conservatives out of power in Ontario kicks off today with the launch of a new attack ad portraying Patrick Brown as an untrustworthy flip-flopper.
The ad by the Working Families Coalition shows an image of Brown as a weather vane atop Queen's Park, with dark storm clouds and flashes of lightning in the background.
"Patrick Brown will say anything to get elected," declares the ad. "He just blows with the winds of political opportunity."
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The ad contrasts Brown's statements as PC leader with his voting record in Ottawa, where he served nine years as an MP under the Conservative government of Stephen Harper.
"He now says he's pro-choice, but when it counted, Patrick Brown had a 100 per cent pro-life voting record," says the ad, as the weather vane flips from pointing east to pointing west. "He now says he supports equal marriage, but when it counted, he voted against it."
The ad is the latest in a spurt of TV commercials timed to air before Nov. 9, when a new rule kicks in that limits spending during the six-month period ahead of the election campaign. The new limits were introduced by the Kathleen Wynne government and became law last year.
All groups that are not registered political parties will be limited to spending $600,000 from Nov. 9 to May 9, then $100,000 during the four-week campaign leading to election day on June 7.
The Working Families Coalition spent $2.5 million during the 2014 campaign on ads attacking Tim Hudak, the then-leader of the PCs.
The political parties are also limited in their ad spending during the six-month pre-election period. That's why the PCs have hit the airwaves with these ads and the Liberals with ones like this:
The province is banned from running government-funded advertising for three months leading to election day, except urgent public service ads.
Working Families has been creating and airing attack ads against the PCs since the 2003 election, and the PCs have slammed them as a Liberal front group ever since.
The group's efforts have meant the Liberals haven't had to spend precious campaign dollars on attack ads targeting the opposition and have instead focused on ads promoting their own party and leader.
The PCs might get some help this time around. A group called Ontario Proud, dedicated to knocking Kathleen Wynne from power, has concentrated its efforts on social media, amassing some 250,000 followers on Facebook.