Rae injects Liberals with a dose of grit.

This is from the Star.
The injection of Rae into the campaign is a sign that the Liberals may be giving up on Dion and trying to save the campaign by downplaying Dion and the Green Shift as well. This will make Dion look even less of a leader.







Rae injects Liberals with a dose of grit TheStar.com - Federal Election - Rae injects Liberals with a dose of grit


CP PHOTO
Liberal leader Stephane Dion is cheered on by Bob Rae during a campaign speech in Halifax, Sept. 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Richard BrennanOTTAWA BUREAU
HALIFAX — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's flagging campaign finally appeared to gain steam Tuesday and his former leadership rival Bob Rae was supplying the energy.
The addition of the Toronto Centre Liberal MP to the leader's campaign has emboldened the chronically reserved Dion, whose attack on Conservative Leader Steven Harper showed a new sense of purpose.
"He can speak better English than me, but ... I can tell the truth in both official languages better than Stephen Harper," he told one of the most exuberant partisan crowds to date.
Dion has also started peppering his speeches with references to former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, still one of the most unpopular political leaders in Canadian history.
"This election presents Canadians with a stark choice about the future of our country, a stark choice between gimmicks to buy your vote and sound policies to help us face the slowdown of the economy," he said after earlier announcing a $900 million catastrophic drug program.
Acting like a warm up act, Rae, the former Ontario NDP premier known for his casual speaking style, roasted Harper, saying it's time to throw the wolf behind the sweater out of 24 Sussex once and for all.
"We have what called the Little Red Riding factor at work. And that is we look at Mr. Harper and we say instinctively, 'grandma what big teeth you have.' And there is no way we are going to let that wolf stay at Sussex Drive any longer than past Oct. 14," he said to the delight the crowd.
Rae said, in his lengthy political experience, "I have never seen a more secretive, a more right-wing, a more ideological, a more completely controlled party in government as the one that I have under Stephen Harper."
"He's got a terrible agenda in mind for Canadians and then he comes on with that blue sweater and says 'don't worry Canadians you can relax' ... (but) we know why you are calling this election, you are trying to dupe Canadians into giving you a majority."
By bringing in Rae, the Liberals are deliberately trying to turn the spotlight from the taciturn Dion to focus on the Liberal team. It wasn't lost on observers that Rae did not mention the Green Shift plan once during two length introductions.
Rae said Harper isn't to be trusted and pointed to the fact the Prime Minister broke his own fixed election date law.
"Last week he announced there was going to be a fixed date for the departure of our troops from Afghanistan (of 2011) and I'm looking at Mr. Harper and I am saying, buddy, if we can't believe you on the election why would we believe you on Afghanistan"
Rae saved some of his vitriol for the NDP and its leader Jack Layton, calling them pretenders to the throne who supported the Conservatives in killing the former minority Liberal government's plans for child care, the Kelowna Accord for natives, and infrastructure money for cities.
"Let me tell you something ... the Steven Harper government is the house that Jack built. And that's the house that's coming down," he said.