This past week, while undertaking my lunchtime constitutional in stfiling Sahara-heat that is the Ontario summer, I had the following handed to me:
To give some sense of scale: the object in question is roughly 3 inches high by 4 inches long, similar to those that you might see advertising a club show, and first glance the colours suggest a circus, or carnival-type event. On closer viewing, it would appear that it is in fact a political ad, criticizing an as yet (at the time of writing) unreleased tax policy to be proposed by the federal Liberal party of Canada. There are quotes purporting to be a myriad of reviews of the policy, though they are only from something called the "Times and Transcript" (if you've heard of this publication I commend the breadth of your reading) and Sun Media. Indeed, they seem to be reaching the bottom of the review-barrel here. At the bottom there is a link to a website, http://www.willyoubetricked.com/, which is done up in similar colours and has a certain juvenile cleverness.
"Who might have put together this marketing masterpiece?" I asked myself as I skimmed the website. No doubt one of the Liberal competitors...however, there was no immediate "vote for X" indications anywhere. A-ha, a clear rank amateur, I thought - some kind of Madison newbie enjoying beginner's luck. Then I looked back to the card for some evidence and upon closer inspection:
No apologies for quality-further zooming would be pointless. Why? Well, the actual attestation has been smudged so that you can't make it out. Printing error? Doubtful. If you stare at it long enough, you will get an idea of what it is - rather like those 3-d digital drawings that were so popular back in the 90s. I was somewhat taken aback that someone would be ambiguous in establishing their association with this creative masterwork. Seeing as there were so many of these pamphlets littering the downtown, I would have thought that whoever printed them them would want to stand up like a man, given the environmenal sacrifice.More likely, whoever sponsored this would like to keep their association minimal as it is truly ridiculous. It's so silly as to make any serious dicussion of the issues farcical, . The credibility of the party involved will be eroded, and theirde facto spokepeople will become the talking inkblots on the website. It's a little like George Bush nominating Spongebob Squarepants to be his spokesperson on Iraq (though, this may be an improvement). Certainly, placing them at gas pumps across Ontario will help establish them in our mind's eye.
In any case, as you may have made out by now, this appears to Authorized by an Agent for one of the err...main parties of our venerable democracy. I am pleased to see that they seek to engage the citizenry on the issues in a manner that has all the youth and vigor typical of a college fraternity. Certainly, as an uninformed bumpkin on this controversial issue, I can feel rest assured that before long I will have absorbed enough agitprop to take a stand.
3 comments:
You have been tricked, falling into the trap of this shadowy pamphleteer by providing him with additional exposure, even to those who live outside of the political nexus of Ottawa. So, what is this tax on everything, and how can I avoid paying it?!
Mr. Dion seems to have a very unfortunate timing with more tax on gas than we are paying already... I am sure that low income Canadians have to be punished for heating their homes, driving to work, cooking their dinner. And the high income Canadians can have the climate warming feeling around their hearts that they are saving humanity against its will.
To comment on the silly flyer - well, some people just have no artistic or editorial judgement!
The point of the post was less to comment on the policy, but rather on the schoolgirl timidity of the sponsoring party. It becomes more ironic when you think of the party's (or whomever it is - it's so smudged I can't really make it out) long-term efforts to cultivate a "tough" image. Perhaps, they don't want to be associated with running childish smear campaigns with the Oil Barons for Truth?
In any case, the read word on the actual policy is that those that would be most affected by the policy would receive a subsidized offset. Suggested income tax changes would suggest that the overall policy may be neutral for most. However, on that basis, it remains to be seen whether taxation will actually result in changes to consumption.
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