Well, the Liberal ads are out and I must say that I think they're very smart. Michael Ignatieff is looking quite relaxed and pleasant in the English ad (and someone has finally got him to quit licking his lips when he speaks - yayyy!) and it's a positive message instead of an attack ad. Those will likely come, down the road, but it's lovely for a change to hear the leader of a federal political party speaking positive, instead of negative, words. The Canadian public is sick to death of that ridiculous "You're a great, big poo-poo", schoolyard-level, mud-slinging that the Conservatives have been doing and the tone of this ad may just be enough to make people look twice. There are an awful lot of "soft" Conservatives who are not the least bit happy with Mr. Harper and a less aggressive, less nasty campaign may be just the ticket.

Something that I am (already) getting heartily sick of, is hearing and reading the words "unnecessary election". Would someone please tell me what was necessary about the election that the Tories called last year? I know, I know... SH claimed that Parliament "wasn't working". Hello? There were any number of bills passed, among them the legislation mandating fixed-term election dates. Yes, the same one that Steve conveniently forgot about in his desperate attempt to win a majority.

There is no such thing as an "unnecessary election". For better or worse, the system of government that we operate under has Opposition parties. If those parties find that the government does not have the confidence of the House, they can, quite rightly, challenge the government to go to the people.

Mr. Harper's dissolution of Parliament in 2008 is very ironic in that he is no further ahead than he was then and, if he had just left well enough alone, we would be having an election this October that was mandated by all parties.

So, I ask you... exactly what election was unnecessary?