Wasting no time in the run-up to the May 2 election, the Conservatives and Liberals both revealed new campaign ads on Saturday -- alternately praising and condemning the records of Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff.
The Conservative Party posted two new 30-second spots on its website, the first drawing attention to Harper's merits as a leader and his record on the economy, already a central tenet of the Tory campaign.
The Conservative leader has "led our country through a global recession with a steady, determined hand," it says, amid footage of Harper at work and touring an industrial site, going on to a third point about the government's efforts to stop human trafficking.
"And he's taken action to protect our borders -- not from those we welcome but from human smugglers who take advantage of our generosity."
The second spot -- marked by ominous music and a black-and-white image of Ignatieff -- paints the Liberal leader as an "opportunist" and claims that, given the chance, he will put the economy in peril and form a "reckless coalition government that includes the Bloc Quebecois."
Ignatieff has said he would not form a coalition government with the other parties.
The chance of a coalition is already a hot topic in this election. Harper warned against the possibility in a speech on Saturday, prompting Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe to point out Harper tried to form a coalition with his party and the NDP in 2004.
The new Liberal ad has Ignatieff himself, against a white background, talking up his party's emphasis on health care and pensions while criticizing Harper's spending habits.
"We've all see Stephen Harper's priorities -- personal attacks, billions on fighter jets and tax breaks for the wealthiest corporations."
