Tale of two letters: Harper, Trudeau write voters in tight byelection contest

OTTAWA – Brandon residents are getting some unusual personal attention from Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau.

With the Conservatives and Liberals locked in what is evidently a tight race for Monday’s byelection in Brandon-Souris, the two federal leaders have written personal letters to constituents to appeal for their votes.

The prime minister kicked off the letter-writing campaign with a missive extolling his government’s record and bashing the Liberal leader as soft on crime and a bad example to children.

Trudeau is now hitting back with his own letter, directly answering what he calls the prime minister’s “malicious, negative and false attacks.”

The Conservative party paid for Harper’s letter to be delivered by mail.

Trudeau’s letter is being published as an advertisement in the Brandon Sun and being distributed door-to-door by the Liberal campaign team.

In his letter, which arrived in mailboxes earlier this week, Harper reminds voters that Trudeau’s Liberals opposed abolition of the “wasteful and ineffective” long-gun registry and dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly.

He contrasts the Conservative government’s commitment to “continue defending mandatory jail time for big-time drug dealers and child predators” with Trudeau’s commitment to “scrap mandatory prison sentences.”

“On top of that, Justin Trudeau’s plan to legalize marijuana will make it more accessible to our kids and encourage recreational drug use. This is the wrong message to send to our children,” Harper opined.

Trudeau uses his missive to try to set the record straight.

“Our plan is to replace the failed Conservative drug policy that will make it harder for our kids to get drugs and starve organized crime of the hundreds of millions of dollars they currently make from the marijuana trade,” he says of the Liberal promise to legalize, regulate and tax pot.

“As for mandatory minimum sentences, for years our party has supported them for serious crimes and continues to do so. We simply believe that the Conservatives have applied them across the board and are now wasting your money fighting losing battles in the courts.”

Trudeau goes on to note that he is the father of two young children, with a third on the way.

“Anybody who suggests that I am anything other than fully committed to protecting my kids and yours from crime and exploitation needs to think hard about the way they practice politics,” he says, adding that “Mr. Harper and his party have brought politics to a new, nasty low in this country.”