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Wright-Duffy Affair: New NDP, Liberal Ads Slam Tories Over Scandal

The NDP released a cheeky video on Saturday featuring children reading emails related to Mike Duffy's secret $90,000 payment from Nigel Wright.

New Democrats and Liberals have released new ads that take markedly different approaches to hammering Stephen Harper's Conservatives over the Wright-Duffy affair.

The NDP released a cheeky video on Saturday featuring children reading emails related to Mike Duffy's secret $90,000 payment from Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff.

Meanwhile, Liberals zeroed in on a quote from a top Conservative spokesperson in a video released Sunday.

The two-minute NDP clip ends with a little girl asking a boy sitting beside her if he's "had enough."

"It's time for change in Ottawa," the boy says to the camera.

Watch the video below:

Conservatives say the darndest things. Watch this video of kids reading Nigel Wright’s emails from the Duffy trial. #Ready4Change

Posted by Canada’s NDP / Le NPD du Canada on Saturday, August 15, 2015

The tongue-in-cheek clip was lauded by some as clever, cute and even brilliant. But some apparent NDP supporters were critical of the ad on the party's Facebook page.

"I am not happy with children being used for political means!" wrote one man, who later added he was considering taking down the NDP sign on his lawn.

"I am behind Tom Mulcair and the NDP," wrote another. "This ad contradicts the very spirit that gives the NDP its nobility, and its desire for positive change in Canada."

Others suggested people were taking things a little too seriously and needed to chill out.

"We should be encouraging children to participate and learn about politics, not shaming those that try to educate them," wrote one man. "Maybe we could get more than 50% turnout in 18 years."

The Liberal spots features Tory spokesperson Kory Teneycke saying it would be "unfathomable" that Ray Novak, Harper's current chief of staff, would have known about Wright's cheque to Duffy and not told the prime minister.

Novak was included on an email about Wright's deal with Duffy, but Tories maintain he did not open it and was not on a later conference call about the matter.

That 30-second ad ends with a quote from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau that if "Stephen Harper had any respect for the office he is privileged to hold, he would fire these people immediately."

Watch that ad below:

"If Stephen Harper had any respect left for the office he is privileged to hold, he would fire these people immediately." - Justin Trudeau. Share if you agree.

Posted by Liberal Party of Canada | Parti libéral du Canada on Sunday, August 16, 2015

Trudeau has publicly called for Harper to fire Novak and released an open letter Sunday critical of the Tory leader.

"Your staff tried to end an independent audit by Deloitte, they manipulated a Senate report, and they crafted talking points about these events that were simply not true – including the details of Nigel Wright’s $90,000 cheque to Mike Duffy," Trudeau wrote in the letter. "The e-mails demonstrate that senior members of your current campaign team, including Marjory LeBreton, Irving Gerstein, and Ray Novak, were a part of these activities.

"This evidence is raising extremely serious questions about your judgement and your public statements to this point."

Mulcair said Sunday he agreed that someone should be fired for the Wright-Duffy scandal. That person, the NDP leader explained, is Harper.

"That’s the person who named Mike Duffy to the Senate. It's the same person that hired that chief of staff, the person who was in charge of the Prime Minister's Office when the $90,000 cheque was written," Mulcair said. "That's the prime minister."

With files from The Canadian Press

What do you think of the NDP and Liberal ads? Tell us in the comments.

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