NDP launches attack against Harper Conservatives in Quebec

The federal NDP has launched an attack on the federal Tories in Quebec.

The campaign, instigated on Sunday, is called 'Notre région abandonnée' which in English translates into 'Our region abandoned. It's a clever play-on words of the Tories' campaign slogan in Quebec during the 2011 election: 'our region in power.'

According to QMI Agency, the campaign includes flyers and a website with the message that Stephen Harper is ignoring Quebec with regard to economic development, the forestry industry and EI reforms.

The NDP also used the phrase 'our region abandoned' a couple of times during Question Period in Parliament on Monday.

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On the surface, it seems a little peculiar that the NDP, with 58 seats out 75 in la Belle Provence, would go after the Tories who have just 5 seats and are hovering around the 16 per cent mark in the polls. You would think that they would be focusing their efforts on Justin Trudeau who seems to be stealing some of their thunder.

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Carleton University political science professor Bruce Hicks, however, says this campaign seems to be about "situating the NDP as ideologically aligned with the values of Quebec voters."

"By vilifying the Conservatives, which is an ideological party on the right of the spectrum, the party is subconsciously reminding voters that it is the social democratic party on the left and this is closer to where voters in the province situate themselves on a left-right spectrum," he told Yahoo! Canada News.

"Pauline Marois, during the recent provincial election, did something similar. Even though her Parti Québécois was running against Jean Charest's Liberal Party of Quebec, she frequently talked about the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper. It provides voters a heuristic, or shortcut, by which to associate the positions on issues the party has taken.

"As for Justin Trudeau, I suspect the NDP will leave him to the deep pockets of the Conservative Party of Canada to vilify if and when he becomes leader."

(Photo: Screenshot from notreregionabandonnee.ca/)

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