Screen grab from YouTube video of new NDP ads.
Winter is coming and many Canadians are turning on the heat. Perfect timing, say the federal New Democrats, for a new national television and radio advertising campaign to promote leader Jack Layton's proposal to take the federal sales tax off home heating.
"Stephen Harper is giving out huge tax breaks to big polluters and doing nothing to help you," Mr. Layton says in one of the TV spots that will start airing Monday. "It's time for Canadian leadership to make your life more affordable, starting with my practical plan to take the federal sales tax off your home heating."
The ads will run across the country, but more often in areas where home heating costs have gone through the roof and where the party is hoping to pick up Conservative-held seats in the next election, says Brad Lavigne, national director of the federal NDP. Those regions includes Vancouver Island, Northern B.C and the interior, Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, northern Ontario and Atlantic Canada.
"It is a substantial buy outside of an election period," says Mr. Lavigne.
The ads show Mr. Layton in front of a large Canadian flag and also feature a shot of snow-covered house. His proposal would mean a 5 per cent reduction in home heating costs.
According to a news release, they are meant to emphasize Mr. Layton's message that leadership means focusing on practical solutions.