[ryan29]

Have noticed on the internet there is a scandal brewing there over some highly controvercial ads which have been put out by the ndp targeting the saskatchewan party. i'm not from saskatchewan but still find this incident rather interesting and think its worthy of further discussion.

basiclly they are showing people in sheeps clothing and claiming the party has a hidden agenda .

one ad even might be claiming the saskatchewan party supports porn ?

Did the ndp go too far by releasing these ads and are they approiate for pre-election campaigns ?





NDP's 'porn' TV ad sparks outrage

By TIM COOK



Saskatchewan NDP television ads attacking the Opposition may be porn for political junkies in more ways than one. The Saskatchewan Party is outraged that as the words Privatization of the Crowns fades out in one part of the ad, the letters P,O, R, and N stay up a split second longer than the rest. (CP/HO)

REGINA (CP) - Saskatchewan NDP television ads attacking the Opposition may be porn for political junkies in more ways than one.

The Saskatchewan Party is outraged that as the words Privatization of the Crowns dissolve in one part of the ad, the letters P, O, R, and N stay up a second longer than the rest. A letter T also remains above the N, but Saskatchewan Party member Nancy Heppner says the word porn is clearly spelled out.

Taken with the phrase "Sask Party Stood For" above the letters, the implication is that the Opposition stands for porn, Heppner said.

"If it's intentional, it's despicable," Heppner said. "They are accusing us of being in favour of pornography and I just think that's below any kind of standards for an election campaign."

The ads should be pulled, Heppner said.

"I think it would be the right thing to do. Obviously we are political adversaries but I have a hard time believing that they would want to keep this on the air now that it is obvious to people that it is there."


NDP provincial secretary Doug Still said it wasn't intentional.

"The production house here in Regina has a computer program which generated the ad," Still said. "It's random evaporation of the letters. It cannot be interfered with by human beings."

Still said he doesn't see anything wrong with the ads, which attempt to paint the right-leaning Saskatchewan Party as a wolf in sheep's clothing when it comes to maintaining public medicare and public ownership of the provincial utilities.

"For a party that has a hidden agenda, it would not be a surprise that they would find hidden messages in our ads," Still said.

The campaign was launched last week, before what is widely expected to be a fall election call.

Since the ads came out, the Saskatchewan Party has been unequivocal about its backing of publicly funded health care and continued public ownership of the utilities.

It's not the first time text in television ads has created problems for political parities in Saskatchewan.

In 2006, Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall was red-faced when he was forced to explain why Saskatchewan was misspelled - without the letter e - in one of his party's TV ads.

[ryan29]

another article on this ad campaign ,



Gloves are off as Sask. politicians jostle for best pre-election position

By TIM COOK



REGINA (CP) - The wolf's brown eyes stare back at the reader out of a new election-style pamphlet - its expression one of salivating hunger or playful panting, depending on your perspective.

The sheep's fleece in the background around the wolf's face completes the picture, and the headline drives the message in the New Democrat pamphlet home: "What Lies Behind the Friendly New Image?"

The Opposition Saskatchewan Party has mocked the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing campaign launched by the government earlier this week, calling the wolf "Lamb Chop" because it looks so friendly. They say it's nothing more than an ill-conceived attempt to scare voters, by a government desperate to retain power.

The NDP government chose the wolf in an effort to show that the Opposition has a hidden agenda, arguing it will say anything to get elected and predicting that, once in power, it would privatize public utilities and destroy public health care.

The ad blitz has served as a starter's pistol of sorts for what's shaping up to be a bitter campaign toward a provincial election that hasn't even been called.

"It looks like the momentum is building," says Ken Rasmussen, director and associate dean of the graduate school of public policy at the University of Regina. "I think there are a number of strategic objectives that are underway."

Popular perception around the province is that the Saskatchewan Party - formed in 1997 out of an alliance of vanquished Tories and disgruntled Liberals - is a government in waiting.

The NDP has been in power since 1991, and a public opinion poll earlier this year put it 25 percentage points behind the Saskatchewan Party in popularity.

Premier Lorne Calvert, who holds a 30-28 majority in the house, could wait until the fall of 2008 before calling an election, but has said he prefers to have votes on a four-year cycle. That means people in Saskatchewan will probably be heading to the polls this fall.

Calvert has certainly been acting like that is the plan.

In the spring his government dipped into savings and tabled a budget loaded with goodies, including a program that will see every senior pay no more than $15 for each prescription drug and a $10,000 annual tax credit for recent post-secondary graduates.

[Rev_Blair]

It's a non-issue. I saw the ad and there is no way that it can be taken as spelling "Porn". "PTORN" perhaps, but even that's a stretch...the letters are unevenly spaced and on different lines.

Somebody in the Saskatchewan Party has too much time on their hands, or is suffering from a severe persecution complex.

The ad is here, so you can judge for yourselves.

[ryan29]

lily lily:

Hardly a new low. There have been plenty of equally bad or worse ads.... unfortunately.

true there has been some negative ads run recently , the union ones in ontario are an example but remember there still isn't an election date in saskatchewan yet so these count as some of the most negative pre-election ads i've seen recently.

[ryan29]

Rev_Blair Rev_Blair:

It's a non-issue. I saw the ad and there is no way that it can be taken as spelling "Porn". "PTORN" perhaps, but even that's a stretch...the letters are unevenly spaced and on different lines.

Somebody in the Saskatchewan Party has too much time on their hands, or is suffering from a severe persecution complex.

The ad is here, so you can judge for yourselves.

the ndp is the government in saskatchewan and by running these ads they look very desperate to say the least.

the term hidden agenda was last used in the 2000 election campaign to label stockwell day , kinda old i think.

[WBenson]

A split second of what doesn't even look like the word "porn" is a new low?

Wouldn't standing for porn get them more votes anyways?

[RUEZ]

"Making us more like Alberta" That's a bad thing?

[Toro]

lol "More like Alberta." That's right, who wants to be rich? lol

And what, George Bush wasn't available?

Last I heard, the SP was running 25 points ahead of the knee-dippers.

So expect more ads like that.

[ryan29]

WBenson WBenson:

A split second of what doesn't even look like the word "porn" is a new low?

Wouldn't standing for porn get them more votes anyways?

wasn't saying it was a new low just because of the possible reference to porn in the one ad. its a new low because of the fact the election hasn't started yet and there allready running ads that feature actors in sheep clothing making claims about hidden agendas .

and from what i read the saskatchewan party has come out against most of what the ndp is claiming they supposedly want to do . so these ndp ads aren't even truthful and are a bizare form of spreading rumors.

[Freakinoldguy]

RUEZ RUEZ:

"Making us more like Alberta" That's a bad thing?

I guess it is if your a follower of Alan Blakeney, who drove out most of the industry in Saskatchewan by making the oil, potash and mining industries "Crown Corporations".

Hell who needs money when you have the Provincial Government to take care of you. Look how well it's worked for Saskatchewan.

[Donny_Brasco]

Well, if you look at what the Sask party now stands for they are really as far left as any right wing party I've ever seen. Like when I hear Brad Wall pronouncing that welfare moms are getting a raise and low income families a tax break and even topping up their wages....

Wow, its a disgrace to the whole "Tory" attitude.

I guess giving the people what they want, or at least pretending your going to, gets you more votes.

So now your choices in Saskatchewan are left and lefter. Which is exactly how it should be. WTG Sask party. I feel OK with four years of new faces till the wolves come out of the woodwork...then we can have another two generations of NDP.

DOn;t get me wrong, I'm still not voting for the Sask party. But strip clubs in Saskatoon, well if thats what Alberta's got I can do 4 years of Brad Wall...

[Tricks]

I don't see anything there. It's just a shitty animation. Straw grasping.

[sandorski]

Other than the creepy Wolf in sheeps clothing at the end, meh. No desperation, just a typical Political Ad and one really has to stretch and even see what they want to get the "Porn" connection.

[sandorski]

Toro Toro:

lol "More like Alberta." That's right, who wants to be rich? lol

And what, George Bush wasn't available?

Last I heard, the SP was running 25 points ahead of the knee-dippers.

So expect more ads like that.

If Saskatchewan had Alberta's Oil, they'd be just as rich.

[Toro]

It kind of reminds me of the last Saskatchewan election campaign when the NDP promised to make Saskatchewan "The cheapest place to live in Canada." They didn't seem to realize that the biggest factor on whether a place is cheap or expensive to live is whether or not people want to live there.