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Wasting little time, the Conservatives used the column to fire up their base and appeal to party members’ emotions to get more donations.

“Friend, This morning, I picked up a paper to read with my morning coffee. You won’t believe what I found inside.I discovered a 740-word column by the Toronto Star’s Heather Mallick, full of disgusting personal attacks on the Prime Minister,” reads the Conservative fundraising email.

“I won’t go into detail, but it included the word ‘sociopathic.’ Not even trying to hide her bias, Mallick ends her column hoping that when it comes to Conservative majority, ‘next year it will be over.’ This was too far… even for the Liberal cheerleading Toronto Star. We’re not going to stand for disgusting personal attacks.”

The party urges its members to “chip in $5 to help us fight back,” get the party’s own message out to Canadians and prepare for the 2015 election.

“If you ever had any doubt that the urban media elite are mobilizing against us, this ridiculous piece should end it,” the email continues.

“We’re up against the Liberals and the NDP in the next election, but we also have to fight an uphill battle against all their friends in the Ottawa media. Since we can’t count on fair coverage, we’re going to need to speak directly to voters. It’s not cheap, but it’s the only option.”

The Conservative Party of Canada, while criticizing the opinion column as a “disgusting personal attack,” has launched several of its own attacks against Trudeau with ads and a website that suggest the Liberal leader is “in way over his head” on issues like the economy, and criticizing him for his plan to legalize marijuana.