DARTMOUTH, N.S. – Nova Scotia’s Liberal Leader says a Tory attack ad accusing the NDP of taking illegal campaign donations from unions is “no different” than negative ads the New Democrats are using.
During a campaign stop at the Dartmouth Farmers Market, Stephen McNeil said both the NDP and the Tories have used misleading attack ads throughout the campaign. He argues all of them should be off the air.
The New Democrats sent a letter Friday to several radio stations across the province asking them to pull a Tory campaign ad they say is defamatory of their party because it suggests they accepted improper donations.
The province’s chief electoral officer, Christine McCulloch, has said the donations appeared to be “improper” based on media reports she had read and she was reviewing them, although her review will not be done before election day.
McNeil says the NDP can use lawyers if it likes to attempt to stop the attack ads over the $45,000 donation from the Mainland Nova Scotia Building and Construction Trades Council.
But he argues that NDP television ads attacking Premier Rodney MacDonald are “not true,” because they portray the premier with unflattering facial expressions and tie those to quotes he wasn’t saying at the moment the photo was taken.
