Harper to call an election Sunday. With a fixed election date this will mean we suddenly double the

[applegrove]

length of the race from the usual 5 weeks to 10. Doubling the maximum amount of money that can be spent on it. Liberals and NDP have less than $10 Million in the coffers. Conservatives have about $15 Million. Maximum for an election would have been $24 Million. Now it will be $55 Million. We didn't have a citizen's united in Canada but it looks like that didn't stop the Conservatives from ginning something like it up. Elections rich people can better win.

http://www.niagaraadvance.ca/2015/07/17/election-laws-giving-canada-a-us-tinge

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. The cons may have $15M,

but if the opposition parties pull together grass roots donations, and excite people then they can rapidly fill that funding gap. If they manage media, including social media, and the debates deftly, the money difference means even less.

[Saviolo]

2. Let's also not forget:

All that (taxpayer) money that Harper has already spent in order to air that ridiculous out-of-context "The budget will balance itself" quotation from Justin Trudeau.

All above board because it wasn't yet in the election cycle. Ugh, I clench my jaw so hard every time I hear a HarperCon ad on the radio that I'm afraid my teeth are going to explode well before the election.

[laundry_queen]

3. Everyone I have talked to

lately about politics HATES that ad. Even the conservatives. My hard-core conservative father (who had no part in the NDP win here in Alberta, lol) hates Trudeau...but he HATES those ads even more and it has made him question Harper's judgement, coming up with those ads. LOL.

I'll be exploding with you. So will every person in our lunchroom at work, LOLOL. The collective groan when one of those ads comes on is really telling.

[Saviolo]

4. I heard a new variation the other day

... that repeated the "budget will balance itself" line twice in rapid succession. They just looped it, and repeated it in the ad. It sounds like a parody of a political ad from a TV show like West Wing or something. I can see John Oliver or Jon Stewart making fun of the ad it's so off base.