Conservative Leader Stephen Harper whispers to Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe’s during a Holocaust remembrance ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (Photo: Canadian Press / Tom Hanson)

Liberal photo 'beyond tasteless,' Harper says

Updated Fri. Dec. 23 2005 11:34 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says a photo circulating within Liberal ranks is a "tasteless" sign the Grit campaign is set to take a negative turn.

The photo, depicting a quiet conversation between Harper and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, is featured in campaign instructions available to Liberal candidates online.

"I think it's beyond tasteless," Harper said Friday, noting that the photo was taken when all four federal party leaders were attending a Holocaust memorial on Parliament Hill last spring.

"To imply that Mr. Duceppe and I share some sort of agenda other than opposing the Holocaust is disgraceful."

According to the Conservative leader, the material foreshadows an impending negative turn in the ongoing election campaign.

"I think you're just seeing the beginning," Harper told reporters outside the Calgary toy store where he'd stopped to buy presents.

"A corrupt party that doesn't have a record to run on: this is the sort of stuff they're going to do."

Liberal Party national director Steve McKinnon refused to discuss the ads on camera, but in a statement the Grits denied a negative campaign was in the works.

"They were never at any time prepared in the context of an advertising strategy," the statement said, describing the material as part of a list of issues intended to help candidates as they go door-knocking.

The picture was used to illustrate the suggestion a Harper-Duceppe coalition would lead to a weakened federal government.

Pollster Allan Gregg warns, should the Liberal campaign take a negative turn, the party should be prepared for the move to backfire.

"Negative advertising and negative campaigns can have a negative effect on those who launch it -- so they have to be very careful," the Strategic Counsel chairman told CTV News.

Saddled with a nagging reputation for negative campaigning, the Conservatives are taking a more subtle tack in their newest advertisements.

But Harper stopped short Friday of vowing his party would avoid negative campaigning in its bid to form a Conservative government.

"Anything we will be saying in this campaign will be factual and accurate. I can't promise it will all be pretty."

Meanwhile, the Jewish community is demanding an apology from the Liberals, for making them the first casualties in what is expected to be an increasingly nasty campaign in the weeks leading to Jan. 23.

Prepared with a report from CTV's Robert Fife

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