The federal Conservatives raised millions of dollars from their supporters over the years by finding and pressing key “hot button” issues like the gun registry. A good “hot button” issue gets a donor riled up and ready to write a cheque so his or her side will deal with that that “hot button” issue.
Well, with the gun registry retired, the Conservatives have settled on a new hot button issue — Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. Trudeau is the key “issue” in a series of fundraising e-mails flying out of Conservative Party HQ in the last couple of weeks during the party’s “Seize the Moment” fundraising campaign. Consider this latest one that comes from Heritage Minister Shelly Glover:
Friend,
Our economy is the strongest in the G7. We’re creating jobs and lowering taxes. Canada is in better shape than ever before.
We can’t stop now.
We have to Seize the Moment – and that’s why we’ve set an ambitious fundraising goal of $2 million by the end of year.
Justin Trudeau would take our economy off track. He’s voted against almost every measure we’ve put forward – and his own plan to legalize marijuana would put our communities at risk.
Worse, he’s in way over his head – he’s constantly saying things like this:
“There’s a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around…” – Justin Trudeau, November 7, 2013
I guess somebody forgot to tell Justin that we don’t like dictatorships.
The Liberal fundraising machine is now in overdrive. They’re doing their best to raise more money than us – you and I just can’t let that happen.
Chip in $25 today – just $6.25 after your tax credits – and help us reach our goal.
Canada is the true north, strong and free – it’s time to Seize the Moment.
Sincerely,
Shelly Glover
MP, Saint Boniface
Here’s one sent out over top of the name of the Minister of State for Democratic Reform Pierre Poilievre:
Friend,
Seven years ago, our Conservative government set out to rebuild Canada.
With the strongest economy in the G7, our plan is working – but until Canada is as strong and as free as it can be, we cannot say our work is done.
..
The election is less than two years away – and the stakes couldn’t possibly be higher.
You have a choice to make today:
You can make a difference by donating – and be a part of this campaign, from every day now until election day.
Or you can skip your donation – assume you can’t make a difference – and risk waking up in 2015 to Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister.
Can you imagine Trudeau leading our economy? Or representing Canada on the world stage?
He’s in way over his head. We can’t let that happen to our country.
Make the right choice – chip in $25 today to the Conservative Party.
Sincerely,
Pierre Poilievre
MP, Nepean–Carleton
and another, over the name of Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification:
Friend,
You and I understand what’s at stake in the next election – we’re electing someone to lead Canada’s economy.
This is no small task. Through Prime Minister Harper’s leadership, Canada currently leads the G7 in terms of economic growth and job creation.
But we must be vigilant. The global economy remains fragile.
So when people ask me why they should donate to our Party, here’s what I tell them: Canada can’t afford to elect someone with no vision, and no plan. Someone who, at best, is full of empty rhetoric – Justin Trudeau.
Instead, for Canada to continue to be prosperous, strong, and free, it needs the leadership of a strong Conservative team led by our Prime Minister.
We need your help.
So far this month, our donors have given generously – but we still have a lot of work to do to meet our goal of $2 million by the end of the month.
Our Party has always relied on the strength of our grassroots supporters, and you have always delivered, and for this we thank you.
We’re counting on you to help us Seize the Moment and meet our goal of $2 million.
Help us fight back today with a donation of $25 or whatever you can afford.
Through your support, we can continue to elect people who stand up for the victims of crime, who are dedicated to growing our economy, balancing our budgets, and keeping Canada strong and free.
Thank you for partnering with us in Seizing Canada’s Moment.
Donate Now
Sincerely,Michelle Rempel
MP, Calgary Centre–North
UPDATE – Here’s another e-mail sent Dec. 29 at 9 a.m. ET by Party HQ over the name of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Again — note the warning — give us money or you get Justin Trudeau!:
Conservative Party of Canada
Friend,Do you know which country has the strongest economy in the G7?
It’s Canada.
That’s something we should be very proud of.
We didn’t get here by accident. It’s taken seven years of strong leadership from Stephen Harper.
He made the tough choices – and the right choices – to get our economy on track.
Today, you have an important choice to make.
We need to make sure our Party is just as strong as our economy – or we risk losing the election to Justin Trudeau.
Do you really think Justin Trudeau could run our economy? I don’t think so – he’s in way over his head.
Make the right choice – donate $25 today, or whatever you can afford, to our Seize the Moment campaign.
You only have two more days to make your end-of-year donation and get a tax credit, worth up to 75% of your donation.
And we need your help to reach our $2 million goal by the end of this month.
Now is the time to donate to the Conservative Party – make your contribution now.
Donate Now
Sincerely,Jim Flaherty
MP, Whitby-Oshawa
The lies and deception never seems to end with these people. I only hope that Canadians are waking up,
Definitive proof that Mulcair is completely insignificant in the 2015 election.
The easiest attack ad in the world right now would use a screen grab of Stephen Harper standing up and buttoning his coat in the House of Commons with the caption: “He’s in way over his head.”
Then the director could cut to a gif of JT saying, “He must testify under oath.”
I cannot believe, how low the Conservatives will go, too beg for money to try and beat Justin, Harper and his cronies are finished. Just look at all the poles, and that will give you the answer. I hoping after the next election , that these Conservative MP lose for the lying and not being transparent to all votes of Canada.
I can hardly wait for the 2015 election and the announce, that Justin Trudeau is Canada’s new Prime Minister. I’ll bet in the next election that the NDP will beat the Conservatives and Harper and his Cronies will be in third place.
You are willing to place our country into the hands of an inexperienced boy? – tell me what kind of vision does Justin have for this country and where and how is he planning on getting the money? All he can talk about is marijuana & nothing of substance. Have a good look at the U.S. and how well they survived the recession under socialists while under Harper we barely felt a bump. As for NDP .. look what they did to provinces such as Ontario and B.C…. the grass on the other side of the fence may appear to be greener but in fact you will find that it may taste bitter and not what one hoped for.
Money????maybe he won`t be paying off senator’s legal bills etc. and that would provide a lot of money right there. As for Marijuana and substance you say to look to the US. Well, last I heard they have voted and legalized Marijuana in about 4 states and more on the way. You speak of ‘grass’ on the other side of the fence, well, I think the US is on the right track, but it`s a different kind of grass then what you`re referring to. I think Justin would make a wonderful PM, especially after this control freak we have at the helm presently. He would indeed be a breath of fresh air and bring new ideas, which we are sorely missing with SH. He`s got my vote.
@Larry … that’s a mighty toking prediction..lol
I can’t believe there are Canadians who actually get motivated to donate by that nonsense… that’s sad
It doesn’t matter what I say here, Akin. You will delete it anyway.
I will say, though, that it’s nice to see that the other comments are all anti-Conservative. It must just boil your britches to see Dictator Harper & his monkey minions criticized like this. After all, you are just a shill for the extreme right-wing Reform/Conservative Party, aren’t you?
Merry Christmas to you, too, Blake!
The true and loyal Canadians who contribute to the Conservative Party of Canada are saving Canada from a couple of pretenders from Quebec who would drain the Rest of Canada of $$$$ before they separate. Believe it.
You got that right, Observant, because we have had enough of PMs from Quebec — PET, Mulroney, Chretien, Martin, and then the Liberals offer us Dion, Ignatieff(from USA) and now Son of PET. Mulcair will vanish in 2015 after the skittish quebecois abandon the NPD for their favourite son of Quebec, Justin. Harper will just float to the top with another majority Conservative government in 2015.
Well true and loyal, The Steve Harper government was not pleased when Ontario, the most populous province in the country, became eligible for equalization payments for the first time in 2009-10. Ontario will receive just under $2billion dollars from the feds in 2014-2015, down from 3.2billion dollar this year. Quebec will see it’s piece of the equalization pie rise to 9.3 billion dollars from 7.8 billion dollars in 2013-14. Quebec’s equalization payment next year will be larger than its Canada Health transfer or its Canada Social Transfer, so now do think that your Conservate Party will save Quebec or are they out to buy Votes.
@Larry… what’s your point, Larry? Yes, Quebec gets more than it’s fair share of equalization payments because the equalization formula is gigged to favour Quebec (or as past PM Louis St. Laurent said: “I don’t care how you change the formula as long as Quebec gets more!”). If Hydro Quebec revenue was included in the equalization formula, Quebec would have been a “have” province and not received their ill-gotten gain at the expense of the RoC.. particularly from Ontario and Alberta. If Canadians are tricked into voting in another PM from Quebec you can be certain that sucking sound you will hear is $$$$ being drained from the RoC and into Quebec… just as all previous Quebec PM did …believe it!!
All parties go into overdrive to raise funds at the end of the year because it’s to their donors advantage tax-wise to do so. Every party understands the necessity of constant fund raising, though this wasn’t always so. As for the CPC’s fund raising letters, they only go to its members and donors. I don’t know why they’re presented in this blog.