Canada's Liberals take high road in pre-election ads

The Liberal Party in Canada on Sunday launched the first in a series of ads following the party's decision last week to withdraw its support for the governing Conservative Party of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The English-language TV ad features party leader Michael Ignatieff, who tells viewers that Canada "needs a new way of thinking, a government that thinks big, that has a global perspective."

He says Canada should be reaching out to China and India, and notes that Canadians he's met on his travels are "the best the world has to offer."

The slogan in English is "We can do better." In French, it's: "We deserve better."

The party says it has tested the ads in focus groups and is satisfied that they carry the message Canadians want to hear - a message of hope and a message focused on vision, and contrasting vision and record instead of personal attacks.

The ads are a deliberately positive response to the Conservative attack ads released earlier in the year that portrayed Ignatieff as an arrogant international academic with no sincere connection to Canada.

"For years the Conservatives have used the tactic of pre-writ advertising that's focused on personal on the opposing leader," says Rocco Rossi, the Liberal party's national director.

"We believe we can do better, not only in policy but in attitude and tone in campaigning."
WATCH THE ADS