Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff visits a training facility for heavy machinery in Dettah, Northwest Territories
DETTAH, NWT-The federal Liberals are asking Canadians to help them fix an ad featuring Conservative leader Stephen Harper’s views about healthcare.
Following a complaint from the Tories, the Liberals agreed to pull the ad which featured a quote suggesting Harper was opposed to universal access to public healthcare under the Canada Health Act.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said the quote was used because it had appeared in reputable news agencies such as the Globe and Mail and Macleans magazine.
But Ignatieff said the fundamental issue remains that there is a major difference between how he and Harper view the healthcare system, and the complaint demonstrates that the Tories are getting nervous about the issue.
“It’s getting tight, the heat’s on,” Ignatieff said. “They dish it out, but they can’t take it.”
He noted that he believes the federal government has a role to ensure equal access across the country to public healthcare services, while he suggested that Harper believes it’s entirely up to the provinces to decide.
“We’re saying gloves off, let’s have a real serious debate on this issue,” Ignatieff said. “It’s a fundamental issue. This is about values, it’s about citizenship… and it’s about the role of the federal government. Bring it on. Let’s have this debate. Let’s have a serious debate.”
The Liberals explained they would launch an online poll with actual quotes from Harper and ask Canadians to choose which remarks would be used in their next ad.
Ignatieff has pledged to hold a federal-provincial summit on healthcare, within two months of forming a new government to discuss a renewal of long-term funding with a focus on home care and drug insurance coverage as priorities. He has criticized Harper for failing to convene such a meeting after five years in office.
Ignatieff also noted that the Tories should also take steps to correct the record in a series of attack ads over the past few years that attacked him.
“I’ve had five years of malicious, selective misquotation of my work,” said Ignatieff. “But that is no excuse. If there is misquotation in any campaign then that’s not acceptable. The fact that they did it to me, doesn’t make it acceptable if we find some things inaccurate in our ad… They went down this road, and I don’t want to go down there with them.”
Ignatieff made the comments while campaigning with his candidate in the Western Arctic riding, former premier Joe Handley.
He also accused Harper of using the northern region for photo opportunities and criticized him for deploying a strategy that has too much focus on military development, instead of promoting more diverse economic development and improved healthcare services through incentives to attract doctors and nurses to the region.
Ignatieff added that Harper is providing a boost the Quebec sovereignty movement through his recent suggestions that he needs a Conservative majority government to fight sovereignists.
“It’s absolutely the worst thing to do because it gives a gift to the sovereignists that they don’t deserve,” said Ignatieff.
Harper had made the comments after Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois received a strong vote of confidence in a leadership review by the rank and file of the provincial party that is now in opposition.
But Ignatieff said Harper is looking for new reasons to scare people after his old arguments about an election wrecking the economy failed to connect with voters.
“What happened this weekend? Pauline Marois had a good weekend. That’s what happened. Good for her,” Ignatieff said with a hint of sarcasm. “Does this put the future of Canada in peril. Give me a break here… We’ve got to be more confident here about our country.”
“Quebecers like other Canadian citizens in other parts of the country, thinks reopening the constitution is not response to their concerns.”
mdesouza@postmedia.com
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