On jujitsu

Early in the election campaign, the New Democrats served notice that they planned to turn the Cons' messaging against them, taking the "strong leader" persona built up for Stephen Harper and painting it as a negative compared to Jack Layton's "new kind of strong". Now, the NDP is again turning the Cons' words against them by pointing out which party is actually asking Canadians to take risks on the economy:

Stepping up his attacks on Harper over the faltering economy, Layton warned that Canadians' pensions and homes are at risk and Harper is doing nothing about it.

Instead of protecting their jobs and savings, the Conservative leader is advising ordinary families to spend their money on plummeting stocks, Layton said.

"Most Canadians are extremely concerned, and yet he's trying to suggest that going out and gambling some of your money is the right strategy," he said after a breakfast rally in Edmonton...

"When economic uncertainty lies before us, it's a golden opportunity for leadership and it's a golden opportunity for us to pull together," he said.

The NDP would draft new regulations for banks to "make sure that no one is gambling with your savings," he said.

I'll leave aside for now the whether or not buying stocks is a good idea for those who have enough disposable income to afford it. But the messaging ties in perfectly with the New Democrats' consistent message about the dangers of deregulation and laissez-faire government, while the use of the "gambling" and "risk" language favoured by the Cons turns the tables on Harper by pointing out that it's a failure in private-sector risk management that's caused the crisis which now has Canadians worried for their financial futures.

All of which offers a compelling reason for Canadians to avoid gambling their vote either on the Libs' carbon tax, or on the Cons' unjustified faith in big business. And that leaves the New Democrats as the safest bet to provide the economic leadership Canadians need.