Face of Nation : The Liberal campaign slogan is “Choose Forward,” while the Conservatives have gone with “It’s time for you to get ahead.” The Conservative and Liberal teams have launched television ad campaigns ahead of October’s federal election with a shared focus on offering to make everyday life more affordable for Canadians.
The NDP is expected to launch a slogan and TV ad campaign next week; a party spokesperson said the slogan will tell voters that the NDP is the only party that “will put people and their interests first.” The Greens’ slogan is “Not left. Not right. Forward together.” The populist People’s Party is going with “Strong and free.”
Justin Trudeau is featured prominently in the Liberal ad, which shows the leader meeting with constituents in his diverse Montreal-area Papineau riding.
Other shots show Trudeau riding public transit while speaking directly to camera about his government’s accomplishments to date, specifically the “middle class” tax cut and an enhanced Canada Child Benefit for parents with young kids. He defends the government’s climate plan — which includes a national carbon tax imposed on jurisdictions that don’t have a plan of their own — as the best way to fight an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Trudeau doesn’t mention by name his main opponent, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, but rather invokes former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s legacy and takes a thinly veiled jab at Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford.
“I got into politics to help people like the people I’ve served here in Papineau for more than a decade, people who work hard to make ends meet, parents who want to build a better life for their kids, Canadians who want our country to stand for something positive in a world that’s grown darker,” Trudeau said.
“The Conservatives like to say they’re ‘for the people,’ but then they cut taxes for the wealthy and cut services for everybody else,” Trudeau said, citing Ford’s campaign slogan during the spring 2018 provincial election and a series of budgetary manoeuvres the Ford government has made to reduce a sizeable deficit in the country’s largest province.
“In October we’ve got a choice to make — keep moving forward and build on the progress we’ve made, or go back to the politics of the Harper years. I’m for moving forward, for everyone,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau is expected to call an election sometime after Labour Day. Under federal fixed election date legislation, the vote must be held sometime on or before Oct. 21. In the 2004 federal election campaign, Liberals opted for “Moving Canada forward.” The Ontario Liberals promised voters they were “Moving forward, together” in 2007 and then, in 2001, “Forward. Together.” (Former U.S. president Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign had a one-word slogan: “Forward.”)
