The scent of an election is in Nova Scotia’s air as Darrell Dexter’s NDP government approaches its fourth year in office since being elected to a majority government in the June 9, 2009 general election. Dexter and his team have led the first NDP government in Atlantic Canada and looks to become the first NDP government re-elected to another majority as it launches its new video advertisement campaign.
While the government legally has five years in power, it’s expected in the Canadian system that an election will be just before or shortly after the fourth anniversary in office. Speculation places the next election either this spring, or more likely in the Fall of 2013. The three major political parties in the province have begun releasing video advertisements to better establish themselves, criticize the government, or in the case of the NDP, list its accomplishments.
The recently released NDP advertisement is oddly refreshing. After months of witnessing the vitriolic attacks that dominated the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign, viewing a relatively positive advertisement from the NDP is like a breath of fresh air. Absent are vicious swipes at the opposition parties. At its surface it is an oddly upbeat video heralding the past four years as progress that must continue, and can only do so under their guidance.
The entire premise of the NDP’s new video is that things are better off today than they were four years ago. The effectiveness of this new advertisement relies entirely on if Nova Scotians truly feel this way. The NDP are claiming responsibility for or associating with the ‘good times’ over the past 4 years, but this also means that they must be responsible for ‘the bad.’
A bleak image of Nova Scotia prior to the NDP being elected is painted at the beginning of the video. A picture of Rodney MacDonald who looks like a scolded child is flashed on screen followed by a truck driving into the sunset as the voice-over refers to jobs leaving the province. “But Nova Scotians believed things could be better” and voted NDP.
The emphasis on the Premier throughout the video is interesting as it reasserts him as the face of the party. Dexter is seen glaring at the camera with a foggy Halifax Harbour in the background, breaking ground at a construction site, and announcing that Canada’s ships start here in Nova Scotia. All of this is used to frame Dexter as the leader to bring Nova Scotia forward. After a CRA poll in late 2012 which found only 23 per cent of respondents saw Dexter as the best leader to be premier, this framing is certainly necessary.
What’s most interesting about this advertisement is the premise that Nova Scotians are better off than they were four years ago. There are plenty of those who would contest this, or who feel that the difference is minimal. With the unemployment rate in the province at 9.3 per cent in December of 2012, plenty of Nova Scotians remain out of work. Asking Nova Scotians if they are better off than they were in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression may not be fair or a difficult benchmark to beat.
As always, the question heading into this election is which party is most capable to lead this province for the next four years. If the NDP want to hammer in that Nova Scotians are better off now than they were four years ago, they had better be confident that is indeed the case. If not, it will remind the person who is to blame and this government may see the hammer flying back at them.
This article was originally published on the Symmetry Blog. Visit the website at www.symmetrypublicrelations.com.
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