The federal Tories have laid out a campaign blueprint and party insiders have been warned they could be in an election showdown by next month, according to a newspaper report.
The Globe and Mail reports that the Conservative Party's chief election strategist, Doug Finley, detailed his plan in front of 75 candidates, organizers, and nomination hopefuls at a closed-door luncheon in Toronto on Tuesday.
Sources at the meeting told The Globe that the strategy would see the Tories capitalize on poll numbers that rate Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a better leader than Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
The Tories are ready to run a campaign that includes a 1,600-square-metre war room in Ottawa's downtown.
The party has also arranged for bus and air transportation, and has demanded all nominations be wrapped up by March 25 or 26, sources quoted Finley as saying at a closed-door lunch at Toronto's Albany Club.
The Tories also have plans:
- To pinpoint which candidates might be provoked into making damaging comments
- To make efforts to get their message out in local news outlets rather than the Ottawa press gallery
- To increase the use of email
- To use their own television studio, which would make it simpler to conduct interviews with local journalists
Sources quoted Finley as saying the government has no intention of triggering an election.
However, Finley said he expects to be planning for an election after the budget, which is expected to be unveiled on March 20.
Meanwhile earlier this week, the Tories launched a new set of campaign-style attack ads aimed squarely at Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
Asked why the Tories are running the ads now, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier suggested it's a pre-emptive strike against the Liberals.
He told the Canadian Press that Dion has indicated the Liberals are ready to go into an election campaign, "and so we're ready, too."
While the federal budget must pass in the House of Commons for the money to flow to the provinces, some experts suggest the Tories wouldn't mind if it was, in fact, defeated.
When asked whether the Liberals had prepared their own campaign strategy, Dion wouldn't answer outright.
"We need to be ready for an election and we will," he told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday morning.
"It's not that we want one but we understand that the current government is really frustrated because they are so right-wing they would like to have a parliament as right-wing as them," Dion said.
The Liberal leader said he felt it was the duty of the party to tell Canadians "we have a country which is a moderate one, not a very far right-wing one."
