http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/conservative-advertising-chinese-punjabi-1.3268011
Conservative Party advertising targeted at Chinese and Punjabi-speaking voters in Vancouver and Toronto is raising concerns in the Liberal Party.
The advertisement characterises Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau as supporting the sale of marijuana to children, and the establishment of safe-injection sites and neighbourhood brothels.
"It's absolutely not true," said Harjit Sajjan, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver South.
"I find it very disturbing that the Conservatives would actually turn to a tactic that goes beyond their fear and divisive tactics."
The campaign is running in Chinese and Punjabi-language newspapers and radio stations in Richmond and South Vancouver, as well as the Richmond Hill and Markham areas of Toronto — ridings with a large percentage of Chinese and Punjabi-speaking residents.
They also happen to be former Liberal ridings that are now battlegrounds for Conservative seats.
Sajjan said it's clear the Conservatives are targeting the ridings with specific messaging for voters in the Chinese and Punjabi communities.
"They shouldn't be targeting these ads to anybody," he said.
A spokesperson for Stephen Harper said the Conservative Party doesn't comment on its advertising strategies, but the Conservative Leader defended the campaign.
"Justin [Trudeau] refuses to acknowledge the damage that drugs do to families and communities," said Stephen Harper in a written statement sent from his office.
"He wants to allow the sale of marijuana in corner stores and increase the number of heroin injection sites, dangerously misguided policies that would only make drugs more accessible to our children."
Checking the facts
Sajjan said he supports Vancouver's supervised injection site, Insite, but that doesn't mean those types of services would start popping up in neighbourhoods.
Trudeau has also spoken out in support of supervised injection sites in the past; he backed Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre's call to open four of them in the Quebec city.
The Conservative Party, on the other hand, has repeatedly tried to shut down Insite, despite a Supreme Court ruling that closing it down would be a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Similarly, the Party's tough-on-drugs approach has seen Harper speak out against easing marijuana laws on several occasions, even though the majority of Canadians say they would support such measures.
The Liberals have stated that, if elected, they intend to legalize marijuana for people over the age of 18. The NDP similarly said they would ease laws around the drug, although the party said it would favour decriminalization rather than legalization.
As for the advertisement's claim about brothels, in a written statement the Conservative Party pointed out that Trudeau voted against Bill C-36, an anti-prostitution bill which had to be amended in response to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that it was unconstitutional.
Conservative Party advertising targeted at Chinese and Punjabi-speaking voters in Vancouver and Toronto is raising concerns in the Liberal Party.
The advertisement characterises Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau as supporting the sale of marijuana to children, and the establishment of safe-injection sites and neighbourhood brothels.
"It's absolutely not true," said Harjit Sajjan, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver South.
"I find it very disturbing that the Conservatives would actually turn to a tactic that goes beyond their fear and divisive tactics."
The campaign is running in Chinese and Punjabi-language newspapers and radio stations in Richmond and South Vancouver, as well as the Richmond Hill and Markham areas of Toronto — ridings with a large percentage of Chinese and Punjabi-speaking residents.
They also happen to be former Liberal ridings that are now battlegrounds for Conservative seats.
Sajjan said it's clear the Conservatives are targeting the ridings with specific messaging for voters in the Chinese and Punjabi communities.
"They shouldn't be targeting these ads to anybody," he said.
A spokesperson for Stephen Harper said the Conservative Party doesn't comment on its advertising strategies, but the Conservative Leader defended the campaign.
"Justin [Trudeau] refuses to acknowledge the damage that drugs do to families and communities," said Stephen Harper in a written statement sent from his office.
"He wants to allow the sale of marijuana in corner stores and increase the number of heroin injection sites, dangerously misguided policies that would only make drugs more accessible to our children."
Checking the facts
Sajjan said he supports Vancouver's supervised injection site, Insite, but that doesn't mean those types of services would start popping up in neighbourhoods.
Trudeau has also spoken out in support of supervised injection sites in the past; he backed Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre's call to open four of them in the Quebec city.
The Conservative Party, on the other hand, has repeatedly tried to shut down Insite, despite a Supreme Court ruling that closing it down would be a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Similarly, the Party's tough-on-drugs approach has seen Harper speak out against easing marijuana laws on several occasions, even though the majority of Canadians say they would support such measures.
The Liberals have stated that, if elected, they intend to legalize marijuana for people over the age of 18. The NDP similarly said they would ease laws around the drug, although the party said it would favour decriminalization rather than legalization.
As for the advertisement's claim about brothels, in a written statement the Conservative Party pointed out that Trudeau voted against Bill C-36, an anti-prostitution bill which had to be amended in response to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that it was unconstitutional.
