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Trudeau Bemoans ‘Nasty’ Election Campaign — Then Attacks Conservatives

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he won’t be part of the coming “nasty” election campaign — but attacked Conservatives for using “scare tactics.”

As the Canadian Press reports, Trudeau was holding forth at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Toronto Tuesday night when he predicted the 2019 federal election campaign will be really bad. “We are now looking at perhaps what will be the most divisive and negative and nasty political campaign in Canada’s history,” he insisted.

“I can tell you, we will do the same thing we did in 2015: No personal attacks, strong differentiation on issues of policy. I will not engage in personal attacks and none of our team will either.”

Then he attacked the Conservatives for basing their campaign on “scare tactics,” suggesting they had no political plan other than to divide voters.

“A positive, compelling message that brings people together, that refuses the politics of personal attacks, that refuses the politics of division of scare tactics — whether it’s snitch lines or hijab attacks — that kind of approach that Stephen Harper tried does not work,” Trudeau said.

“To run on division and fear and easy populism actually makes it harder to do the good things that must be the central purpose of why we run for office,” he continued.

Trudeau lauded his government’s success in securing a role in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement and claimed the Canadian economy was performing extremely well with the Liberals at the helm, CP reported. He also returned to his familiar themes about welcoming refugees at the border — a policy that has created a shortage of accommodation in Montreal and Toronto.(RELATED: Trudeau Government Springs For Another Month Of ‘Free’ Hotels For Illegals)

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