Joining the dark side? Political parties launch 'Star Wars Day' attacks

This photo provided by Disney/Lucasfilm shows stormtroopers in a scene from the film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." (Film Frame/Lucasfilm via AP)

To quote Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Force "surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

But Canada's political parties appeared to dabble in the divisive ways of the dark side on Thursday, by using the unofficial "May the 4th" Star Wars holiday as an excuse to attack one another.

May the 4th has become a day to celebrate everything to do with a galaxy far, far away, as a play on the Star Wars line: "May the Force be with you." But while most people simply celebrated the movie franchise, Canada's Liberals and Conservatives used the theme to cast one another as villains.

The Conservative Party of Canada launched the first Twitter attack on Thursday morning, with a GIF juxtaposing a Justin Trudeau quote against a line from the latest Star Wars film, "Rogue One."

The GIF shows a photo of Trudeau in the House of Commons, with the captioned quote: "Any questions that the ethics commissioner has and that Canadians have, we're happy to engage with." The quote appears to be from a Jan. 13 remark Trudeau made to reporters, when asked about his holiday in the Bahamas with the Aga Khan.

The next photo in the GIF shows K-2SO, a sarcastic droid, along with the captioned quote: "I find that answer vague and unconvincing."

The Liberals fired back with all the force of a Death Star, tweeting a 75-second video attack on the Conservatives, followed by a tweet calling for Canadians to "join the team that's fighting for justice in our galaxy."

The Liberal video takes aim at the Conservative leadership race, dubbing it "Attack of the Clones" – a reference to one of the prequel film titles. The tweet is accompanied by a question: "Stephen Harper's apprentices? These are not the leaders you are looking for."

The video claims it is a "period of unrest on the dark side," and that most of the conservative candidates "just want to do what Harper did."

"Justin Trudeau's Liberal Council has embarked on a mission to strengthen the MIDDLE CLASS in all corners of the galaxy," the message says.

The Twitter battle is perhaps best summed up with a quote from one of Star Wars' most conniving villains, Emperor Palpatine. "There is no civility, only politics."

The party leaders did not tweet any Star Wars-related messages on their accounts as of Thursday morning. However, Trudeau is a noted fan of the movies. He and his family dressed as "Star Wars" characters for Halloween in 2015, and he also took several sick children to an early screening of "The Force Awakens" later that year.

The NDP tweeted a simple message wishing followers a happy Star Wars Day. The tweet includes a photo of an Imperial AT-AT walker and the caption "May the fourth be with you," against an orange background.

The Green Party quipped about the Liberal-Conservative showdown with a tweet of its own. "Anyone telling you who to vote for has their own reason for doing so," the party tweeted. "Vote for what YOU believe."

The tweet was accompanied by a GIF of fish-faced Rebel leader Admiral Ackbar delivering his often-repeated line, "It's a trap!"