"What family doesn't look forward to a gathering together on Christmas, sipping on hot chocolate, and sharing the joy of seeing Stephen Harper appear as Scrooge on TV?" Martin said to supporters at a trendy Ottawa restaurant on Tuesday.
The election set for Jan. 23 comes after the Liberal minority government fell on a no-confidence motion introduced by Harper's Conservatives.
And while Martin has said he plans to run on his government's 17-month record in this campaign, on Tuesday he reused some rhetoric from the previous one.
As he did in 2004, Martin said Harper's values are different from those shared by most Canadians. He said Harper would use the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' notwithstanding clause to strip away the right of gays and lesbians to marry, and accused him of having a hidden agenda to privatize health care, and to opt out of the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases.
For his part, Harper raised the gay marriage issue on his own on Tuesday, telling reporters that if he were prime minister, he would ask the Commons whether a new bill should be introduced to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. He said that would go to a free vote and he would not revisit the issue if the motion were voted down.
"I'm beginning to understand, however, why you never hear Stephen Harper talking about the issues of our day: it's because he and the Conservatives are on the wrong side of every national issue," Martin said.
Only after taking those shots at the competition did Martin enumerate what he sees as his party's accomplishments: a national child-care plan, strong fiscal management, new deals for cities and health care.
Conspicuous by its absence in Martin's stump speeches is any mention of the Gomery inquiry or the sponsorship scandal that it investigated.
Instead, Martin closed with the refrain that is becoming something of a litany for Liberals: "Promises made, promises kept."
