The "Bernard the Roughneck" campaign rolled out against the Trudeau government in Ottawa a week ago has been in preparation for at least seven months, possibly longer.

However, while each of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, the Conservative Party of Canada, and Rebel Media appear to have been directly involved in aspects of the effort, and both Alberta's Wildrose Party and the frontrunner for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party have played supporting roles, it cannot be determined who started the ball rolling or the degree of co-operation among the participants in this piece of political performance art.

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What words should we use to describe the Chinese-language brochure the Wildrose Party wrote up to use in the Calgary-Foothills byelection, which takes place tomorrow, the one that accuses the NDP of trying to advance "ideas of communism?"