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The NDP have also pledged to further kneecap the energy sector by hiking corporate taxes. To their credit, the NDP are for some minor trade deals and say they are willing to support big trade deals “in principle” unless, of course, that principle ever has to intersect with practice.

All the more reason, one supposes, to talk about Mr. Harper and his “failed” plan.

That goes double for Trudeau, whose latest economic thinking involves growing the economy “from the heart outwards” and not “from the top down”. No, seriously.

The Trudeau campaign has been relatively quiet on energy, while simultaneously being afflicted with a case of “middle class” Tourette’s. No matter what gets said by anyone on any aspect of the economy, Trudeau blurts out a bridge to the middle class.

It doesn’t matter that statistics show the middle class is doing just fine. The Liberal leader has a plan that he thinks resonates with middle class voters.

So, how can Harper generate economic candour from his foes and expose some soft opposition underbelly to attack?

It might be that he can’t without explaining why his approach hasn’t done better, and so he might not try to force it out of them.

That’s why we can expect to see Mr. Harper continue to flog a “safer Canada, stronger economy” at every whistle stop. He’s had success the first two weeks of this campaign pushing his agenda, but that is likely to change following this week’s return of the Mike Duffy trial.

This is where a long campaign allows Harper to absorb some blows. This, too, shall pass.

The key lesson of the 2006 campaign was that Canadians need something to vote for, not only something to vote against. Harper knows that at some point the other guys will have to lay out their plan for Canada’s economy.

And when that moment comes, Mr. Harper will target his opponents with another Reagan maxim: “If you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”

Andrew MacDougall is the Senior Executive Consultant at MSLGROUP London and is a former director of communications to Stephen Harper.