Messaging the Media: modern politics in motion

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The messages to be conveyed follow.

It'll be interesting to see and hear them
if they're repeated over the coming week

(Daily Digest November 29, 2008 still in process)
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'Use every tool at your disposal'

PMO issues marching orders to MPs to communicate Conservative position on fiscal update, stresses willingness to return to the polls over the issue http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081129.wtories_message1129/BNStory/Front
 
Globe and Mail Update
November 29, 2008 at 11:42 AM EST

The PMO has issued detailed marching orders to Conservative MPs for a weekend blitz to shift public opinion as coalition talks gather steam between opposition parties that could topple the Harper government next week.

In an e-mail obtained by the Globe and Mail, Guy Giorno, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Chief of Staff, set out a strategy to shift public debate ahead of a potential confidence vote in the House of Commons next week.

On Friday, Stephen Harper articulated the general theme of the e-mail, stating that while the Opposition has the right to bring down the government on matters of confidence, he said they had no right to "take power without an election."

Talks that could result in an unprecedented coalition of Liberals and New Democrats have been ongoing ever since Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced his Fiscal Update in the House on Thursday. It did not contain an expected stimulus package and instead focused on spending cuts. The most contentious cut was the $27-million annual taxpayer subsidy to political parties. The move was seen as a blatant power grab to weaken the Tories' cash-strapped opposition.

Videos

00:02:50

Flaherty's fiscal update rallies opposition

The Finance Minister's mid-year economic report card on the country shows that Canada is falling into a 'technical recession' of two consecutive negative quarters

  Play Video
 
 

The memo urges MPs to fan out to their ridings this weekend and sell the government's message through forums such as talk radio. Mr. Giorno's e-mail stated that MPs must show that the current dispute with opposition parties is merely about the Liberals, NDP and Bloc trying to protect their share of the $27-million in public subsidies and steal power that they failed to win legitimately in the last federal election.

The Tories plan to scrutinize the public reaction to their message over the weekend. If they don't feel they've persuaded Canadians that a change would be disastrous, sources said, they may consider describing in more detail what kind of spending they would be prepared to offer and under what conditions they would pump stimulus into the economy.

The Conservatives have pledged to deliver a big stimulus package, but said they need until early 2009 to assemble it.

Mr. Giorno's message also includes very detailed scripts MPS are expected to follow while delivering radio interviews that include the following lines:

• We're not even two months removed from the last election, and a group of backroom politicians are going to pick who the Prime Minister is. Canadians didn't vote for this person. We don't even know who this person will be.
• Not a single voter voted for a Liberal-NDP coalition. Certainly not a single voter voted for the Liberals to form a coalition with the separatists in the Bloc.
• This is what bothers me the most. The Conservatives won the election. The Opposition keeps saying that the Conservatives have to respect the will of the voters that this is a minority and so on.
• …how about Liberals, NDP and Bloc respecting the will of the voters when they said "YOU LOSE".
• And what's this going to do to the economy. I'm sorry, I don't care how desperate the Liberals are ­ giving socialists (Jack Layton) and separatists (Gilles Duceppe) a veto over every decision in government ­ that is a recipe for total economic disaster.
• But how more phony could these guys be?
• I mean, I follow the news, virtually every single day you have Harper or Flaherty out there telegraphing exactly what they plan to do with the economy. And not once did you hear the Liberals, NDP or separatists talking about toppling the government in response.
• No ­ do you know what set this off. When Flaherty said he was going to take taxpayer-funded subsidies away from the opposition. Now there is a reason to try and overturn an election­ because the Conservatives the audacity to say "Hey, it's a recession, maybe you should take your nose out of the trough."
• And I wish the media would be more clear on this point ­ the opposition aren't being singled out by this fact the Conservatives stand to lose the most money of all. The only difference is that Canadians are voluntarily giving money the Conservatives, so they don't need taxpayer handouts. The only reason the opposition would be hurt more is because nobody wants to donate to them. They should be putting their efforts towards fixing that problem.
• I don't want another election. But what I want even less is a surprise backroom Prime Minister whom I never even had the opportunity to vote for or against. What an insult to democracy.

A partial copy of the e-mail appears below.

 

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Coming Soon to Radio Stations Near You (and newspapers, and e-mail etc)

The Conservatives are revving up their party machine to try to win the high stakes game of political chicken they triggered with the tabling of their fiscal update Thursday. While Liberals, New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois discuss ways to form a coalition government, the Conservatives are calling on their grassroots members to bombard radio stations, newspapers and the internet with messages backing the Conservative position.

For those uncertain what to say, the Conservatives are providing handy dandy talking points and convenient lists of local radio stations, newspapers and all of their coordinates.

Here's an example for those in the Montreal area.
 

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