Media picks up on Guelph Liberal mudslinging

Liberal MP Scott Brison was taken to task by the Guelph media today over his mudslinging comments directed Conservative candidate Gloria Kovach.

I'm very glad to see that the media in Guelph have picked up on the level of negativity coming out of the Frank Valeriote campaign. While they may say that they want to run an issue driven campaign, their actions reveal otherwise.

If you have nothing nice to say...
August 06, 2008
BRAD NEEDHAM

My mom always said, if I don't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything at all.

So, I'd like to start with something nice. Guelph is lucky this byelection. We have four fantastic candidates. All would represent the city well in Ottawa.

That said . . .

Liberal MP Scott Brison should try out a career as a ventriloquist. I figure if he can talk out of both sides of his mouth so well, ventriloquism is the next logical step.

On a recent visit here, Brison came to throw some bigwig political weight around for Guelph's Liberal candidate, Frank Valeriote.

Brison talked about keeping the campaign on the up and up and focusing on ideas. He was reiterating earlier comments by Valeriote that he wants to run a clean campaign.

Brison's keeping-it-clean comments were followed with a comment about Gloria Kovach, Guelph's Conservative candidate, that had little to do with ideas.

"Her fear of saying what she really thinks on the Truscott affair . . . qualifies her to be part of Stephen Harper's flock of sheep," Brison told reporter Jessica Smith, referring to Kovach's skirting of the question of how Stephen Truscott's compensation should be dealt with federally.

A retired provincial justice recommended that Steven and Marlene Truscott be awarded a total of $6.6 million this summer. The province accepted the advice, chose to pay the money and has asked Ottawa whether it will share the costs. We asked Guelph candidates last week whether Ottawa should pay some of the compensation costs and Brison seemingly didn't care for Kovach's answer (she deferred the query to the Prime Minister's Office for comment).

If ventriloquism is not Brison's thing, perhaps he should try mud wrestling. He's proven he can sling mud with the best of them.