It appears Michael Ignatieff's brief period of peace with the Tories is over.

The Conservatives are preparing a series of attack ads targeting Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff by going through hundreds of hours of video clips of his speeches and interviews, according to The Canadian Press.

They hope to glean more fodder for their campaign by mining a lifetime of Ignatieff's musings from his career as a public intellectual.

The Tories already have some anti-Ignatieff ads ready to go.

Ignatieff has thus far been spared the torment directed at his predecessor, Stéphane Dion, say the Conservatives, because they needed his support for their budget in January.

Also, given the economic downturn, two government officials said there was little public tolerance for political partisanship or rhetoric.

On CBC's Politics with Don Newman, Conservative strategist Jaime Watt said he didn't know of any plans to run negative ads about Ignatieff, "but it's fair to look at leaders' records — to look at what they've said and what they've written."

Liberal strategist Scott Reid said it's a distraction from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has been inconsistent on Afghanistan and the economy.

"This prime minister simply has not been on his game," Reid said. "So you know what? … The best thing to do is to attack your opponent."