While we may be past the halfway mark in this campaign, we’re also well into the territory when things start getting a bit…surreal. Or utterly nonsensical. Take your pick. All of it done in the breathless hyperbolizing that parties do in order to try and make their rivals look bad. If you take a look at any Conservative press release, the sections comparing “Justin and Mulcair” are full of ridiculous non sequiturs that have little or nothing to do with the topic at hand. The Liberals are trotting out Jean Chrétien to say that Stephen Harper has “shamed” Canada (never mind that the rest of the world really doesn’t care). And the NDP have been taking the cake for some of their criticisms, which are starting to sound more like grasping at straws. They held a news conference with Charlie Angus to decry Justin Trudeau for “smearing” small businesses when he pointed out that wealthy people self-incorporate to pay lower taxes. And then Angus admitted that it’s a problem and they need to “tweak” the system, but still tried to insist Trudeau was smearing. Their line of attack about not being able to trust the Liberals not to make cuts is predicated on the 1990s, never mind the fact that the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is nowhere near what it was the. And now Thomas Mulcair is brushing off the concerns of the premiers for his plans, whether it’s Senate abolition (which most don’t support), or childcare (which the provinces are expected to pay 40 percent of), or even their balanced budget pledge, of which provincial transfers are an issue. But he’ll have a “mandate” he says. Never mind that he sounds like he’s already over-reading it when he hasn’t even been given one. Suffice to say, the talking points from all sides are getting ridiculous. And we still have a month to go.

On the campaign:

• Stephen Harper reiterated his plan to cut small business taxes.
• Thomas Mulcair promised more money for seniors’ care and health transfers, but still won’t say how they get paid for or when that would happen.
• Justin Trudeau was campaigning with Jean Chrétien.

Good reads:

• Faced with calls for them to do more about Syrian refugees, the government has opted to do the very least they can – matching donations. That’s it.
• In contrast, retired General Rick Hillier shows how we could bring in 50,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year.
• Elections Canada is getting ready to roll out their election information campaign.
• The Bloc campaign is dying a slow death, apparently.
• Harper says that public servants shouldn’t worry if his government gets re-elected, but considering the talk of “war” between them, that’s not reassuring.

Odds and ends:

Louis Plamondon, the Dean of the House (first elected as a Progressive Conservative then joining the Bloc), is fighting for his political life.

Conservative nomination candidates are all under a $1000 “good conduct bond” that acts as a gag order in order to keep them quiet.

Public Works is trying to draw up new plans to renovate 24 Sussex. Too bad none of the party leaders want to talk about the issue.