Ontario election: Bring on the attack ads

If you live in Ontario, get ready to be inundated with a flurry of political attack ads on your favourite television channels and radio stations.

A blackout on paid political commercials ends Wednesday, and all three parties are chomping at the bit to share their negative narratives.

[ Related: Different polls tells very different stories about Ontario election ]

The first wave of ads have already been posted online.

The Progressive Conservatives are fighting back against third-party advertising by big labour:

The Liberals are poking fun at Tim Hudak's million job strategy and his plan eliminate 100,000 public sector jobs:

And the NDP attack the Liberals for their 10 years of "scandals", "mismanagement" and "broken promises."

The ads didn't impress political communications consultant Gerry Nicholls.

"None of these ads is particularly remarkable, but the Liberal ad seems to be most on target strategically," Nicholls, who also appears regularly on CTV's Power Play.

"It reinforces the notion that Hudak is a scary, 'slash and cut' sort of guy. Ironically, this will probably help the PC leader reinforce his own base, but the Liberals are hoping they will win the overall battle by scaring frightened progressive voters into their camp.

"The NDP ad, on the other hand, is attacking the Liberals from the right. This won't resonate with their base and it might drive voters to the PCs who are the anti-spending guys. The PC ad is the worst. Why are they wasting resources and time going after a group most voters don't even know exists? They should be targeting their real enemies: the Liberals."

[ Related: Ontario Greens make push for inclusion in June 3 leaders’ debate ]

And while we all complain about attack ads, Nicholls says that, if done well, they are effective.

"Attack" ads can absolutely work, especially in an election where none of the party leaders is especially popular," he said.

"If you can't get voters to like your guy, the next best thing is to get them liking the other guy even less."

Ontarians go to the polls on June 12th.

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