Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has apologized for an animation on a Tory website that showed a puffin pooping on Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
"It was tasteless and inappropriate. We have enough differences with the Liberals without getting into that kind of thing. So it has been removed and my apologies for it having been up," Harper said during a news conference in Winnipeg.
The image was on the Conservative website notaleader.ca from late Monday until early Tuesday morning, when it was removed after reporters raised it during a news conference with Dion.
The website slams Dion and appears aimed at attracting mainstream media-shunning younger voters.
It contains such features as a "Dion excuse generator" where users can send an email to a friend using a Dion quote, such as "I didn't get it done," as an excuse.
The site is a mix of flash and html applications that give users the opportunity to:
- Create and share their own campaign ads
- Play a Liberal policy gambling game
- Visit the "Dionbook," a Facebook knock-off
- Engage in street debating - a mixture of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter
- Get campaign updates on the NAL (not a leader) news site
Dion dismissed the site and vowed that he will take the high road in the election campaign.
"This is saying more about them than about us," Dion said. He added: "I want to clarify my answer -- not about them, about him, because I know most Conservative voters will disagree with that and they may change their vote."
The Liberals have launched their own website, scandalpedia.ca, which mimics Wikipedia in an attempt to highlight controversies that have dogged the Conservatives.
Outdoorsy Dion
Also on Monday, the Liberal campaign team launched a new website designed to help Canadians get better acquainted with an outdoorsy, athletic Stephane Dion they may not have seen before.
The website dubbed "ThisisDion.ca" features new images and videos of the Liberal leader and seems intended to combat the nerdy professor image the Conservatives have put forward. The Tories' own attack site notaleader.ca was launched Monday night.
In some of the pictures, Dion is shown outdoors, fishing, skiing, snowshoeing and spending time with his dog and his family.
In one of the videos he is shown playing floor hockey.
The site also introduces Dion's wife Janine Krieber and their daughter Jeanne.
The website also portrays Dion as having steely resolve on issues such as separatism and the Clarity Act, and strong experience on the world stage.
True character
A feisty Dion said Tuesday the campaign is intended to show Canadians his true character, as opposed to how he has been portrayed over the past 18 months in Conservative attack ads.
He told a news conference that it's important Canadians learn about who he really is.
"People will need to know that because I will affect their life, if as I hope, they choose me as their prime minister," Dion said.
Though he acknowledged he is an intellectual who loves to read, Dion said he is also an avid outdoorsman and an everyday Canadian who grew up in a family of five children raised on a single income.
Dion also said he's not wealthy.
"Canadians need to know I'm not a rich man. I have a life like anyone else. We have a discussion at the end of the month about how to pay the bills," he said.
A Liberal news release said the site is intended to show how Dion's "love for such quintessentially Canadian pastimes has fostered his love for Canada -- a united Canada -- which compelled him to leave a successful career as an educator to enter politics."
CTV parliamentary correspondent Graham Richardson reported Tuesday that the Liberals have been working hard to fight the image put forward by the Conservatives that Dion is weak and ineffective.
"Image is everything, pictures are everything, especially in a battle like this where you're talking about the personality of the leader," Richardson told CTV's Canada AM.
