Early Manitoba election advertising targets 'front-runner' Brian Pallister

The deluge of political advertising is already hitting the airwaves and mailboxes in Manitoba and Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister is the only leader featured in all three of the top party's ads.

Manitoba pollster Curtis Brown said the pre-election campaign will target Pallister as the "front-runner," even though Manitobans don't vote for another four months.

"The polls show that he's ahead and there's a very good chance that he could become the next premier of the province," said Brown, the vice president with Probe Research Inc.

In a fixed election year, like 2016, a registered party can spend $268,000 on advertising, but under Manitoba law there is no limit for advertising in a non-election year.

• NDP says it's raising more money than ever  

Brown said it makes sense for the Liberals and the NDP to attack Pallister.

"The NDP really aren't saying anything positive," the pollster said. "It's all about how Brian Pallister is going to cancel Christmas and do all these terrible things to Manitoba."

So far, only the Tories are running television commercials. Two of them attack the NDP over the caucus revolt against Premier Greg Selinger last fall.

The third features a seated Pallister talking about his past career as a teacher and the influence of his mom and sister.

"The Conservatives are really trying to soften Brian Pallister and make him a more sympathetic figure, someone who's not going to cut and who values the public service."

PC leader jokes about being political target

"I think they must be short of material, frankly, I don't take a good picture," Pallister said about being featured in both Liberal and NDP advertising.

Regardless of the fact that he's leading in some polls, Pallister said he'll play this election as if he's trailing.

"I'll continue and I'll encourage all my colleagues and supporters and volunteers to continue to work very very hard," he said. "We've won absolutely nothing at all yet, and, look, I was six-foot-three in Grade 8, so I'm used to getting shot at, it's ok. If the NDP wants to attack me to deflect from their record, I understand that because it's deplorable."

Pallister accused the NDP of misleading voters. At the first leaders debate of this pre-election campaign in Brandon, Premier Selinger accused Pallister of supporting private health clinics.

"I never said that I was for two-tier health," Pallister said. "We are profoundly supporters of universal healthcare and the Canada Health Act. So those assertions were made falsely."

'That choice is a stark choice'

The Manitoba NDP have not rolled out TV commercials yet, however, veteran campaigner MLA Jennifer Howard said bus ads will pop up soon.

"It's going to be an extremely competitive election and I think there's lots of people who are taking a serious look at Brian Pallister and thinking about the possibility of him leading a government and I think we want those folks who are considering that to get all the information and part of that is his values don't align with the values of today's Manitoba," Howard said.

One NDP flyer uses a tag line that reads: 'Brian Pallister's values? They're probably not yours."

Howard said her party will talk about its record over such things as abortion services and support for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, but mostly to compare it to the Tories.

"We will talk about our record, but we're also going to be very clear that there is a choice in this election and that choice is a stark choice," she said.

Rebellious words bite back 

Howard is one of the five cabinet ministers who called on the premier to quit last fall amidst a revolt that culminated in Selinger winning the NDP leadership election in March. Howard, along with one of the other dissidents, NDP MLA Andrew Swan, announced she would seek re-election with the NDP.

Now, there's a clip of Howard attacking Selinger from the day she quit his cabinet being used in a PC advertisement.

"The fact that that happened is historical. I think people know that it happened, it was difficult for a lot of Manitobans, it was difficult for them to watch and its over. And now, what the focus is, and what my focus is, and the reason - one of the reasons I'm running is because I want a Manitoba for my kids that is very different than the one that Brian Pallister is bringing."

'We don't see Selinger as a strong player in this election,' Liberals say

The director of communications for the Manitoba Liberals, Mike Brown, said they are watching their purse strings closely and likely won't run television ads until the New Year.

A flyer the Liberals recently mailed out uses the backdrop of a mobile phone. On one side it shows Pallister and Selinger as an out of date "operating system" needing an upgrade.

On the flip side, it shows Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari and some of the campaign promises she's made.

"We'll attack both as required. We don't see Selinger as a strong player in this election, so we'll be focusing mostly on Brian Pallister," said Brown, who used to be the PCs director of communications. "It's his election to lose and he knows that and he's acting like a guy that's the front runner and he's doing virtually nothing to solidify that."

The liberals plan to post videos to social media soon to get their messaging across.

"If you're the party of the future, you look to the future," Brown said. "And people use cell phones now to live their lives, just as a contrast, Brian Pallister doesn't have one."