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As if the world didn’t have enough political nastiness already, Ontario’s Liberals plan to open their re-election bid Monday with an ad campaign steeped in the sort of ugliness that has turned so much of politics into an honesty-free zone between hardened partisans.

The ads, one of which was previewed Friday, predictably aim to portray Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford as the Canadian equivalent of Cro-Magnon man or Donald Trump, whichever you hold in lower regard. He will “give corporations high tax cuts” while seizing a recent minimum wage hike “right out of hardworking people’s pockets.”

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He will “put restrictions on a woman’s right to decide her own pregnancy.” A Ford government would “fire 40,000 people, including teachers and nurses,” and “won’t make big business pay a cent to address climate change.”

Photo by Jack Boland/Postmedia Network

Just for the record, what Ford has actually said is that he’ll reduce taxes for corporations in an attempt to make the province more attractive to investment (which creates jobs) and cancel a recent hike on wage-earners. He won’t reverse the minimum wage rise, but would freeze a future increase. He has stated any number of times that his determination to find efficiencies won’t entail job losses — “Let me be clear: No one is getting laid off,” he pledged. He says he is personally pro-life but has no intention on getting into abortion politics. And he has promised to cancel the cap-and-trade system that has done little to reduce emissions.