Conservative, NDP attacks fail to land as Liberals convene in Montreal

Call me a nut, if you will, but I'm a big fan of political strategy.

I enjoy watching parties try to gain a political advantage over each other, whether its through policy development, public relations or even negative attacks. So, I have to say, I'm a little disappointed at what's happened this week so far at the Liberal Party convention.

A couple of weeks ago, the Toronto Star reported that the Tories were planning some shenanigans for the Liberal Party convention.

The report, which cited a leaked Conservative Party memo, suggested that the party's goal was "to disrupt Liberal communications, highlight disunity in the ranks and question his leadership abilities."

"[The] Conservatives are planning a concerted communications strategy using dedicated websites, online ads, online videos, daily email updates to the Conservative supporters and social media, using 'pre-canned' messages," noted the report.

The Star even suggested that the Tories might come up with some gimmicky tactics: things such as handing-out Zigzag rolling papers to mock Justin Trudeau's plan to legalize marijuana.

Well, one day into the convention, it looks like the plan has either fizzled or at least hasn't reached its peak yet.

The Tories do indeed have a dedicated website slamming Trudeau, but the site is only accessible if you're sent the link.

The party has also introduced this video to its repertoire of attacks, but it only has about 2,000 views.

Moreover, the Conservative Party's Twitter account has been virtually inactive with only four tweets in the past 24 hours. And its email blast was just a repeat of its website.

Is that the best Tories can do?

They certainly haven't done an effective job "to disrupt Liberal communications, highlight disunity in the ranks and question his leadership abilities" as was their plan, according to the Star report.

Yahoo Canada News did send an email to the Conservative Party asking if it will be launching any more attacks over the weekend. As you might expect, the party didn't respond.

[ Related: Retired general Andrew Leslie defends $72K expense, hints that Tories are bitter because he chose Liberals ]

Not to be outdone, the NDP launched an attack of sorts, on Friday, as well.

The NDP released a statement, repeating an earlier statement, about Trudeau's apparent flip-flopping and his decision to release his senate caucus.

"Not only did his move contradict his own party’s constitution, it also contradicted his own position from the fall," the statement reads.

"So whatever happens this weekend, don’t forget: there is nothing Justin Trudeau won’t back down on. He has shown his poor judgement time and time again."

[ Related: Poll shows Liberals riding high heading into weekend convention ]

Granted, Tory and NDP attacks — the same attacks that they're rehashing this week — haven't seemed to work to date. A poll released on Wednesday noted that the Liberals have a commanding eight-point lead over the Tories while the NDP is going nowhere.

But shouldn't that motivate the highly-paid party strategists to be more creative?

Where are they?

Perhaps they're too busy watching the Olympics, like the majority of Canadians.

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