The federal election campaign heated up in week two as Conservative incumbent David Tilson slammed the fiscal platform released by Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and took part in a Conservative attack on Liberal challenger Rebecca Finch.

There was also a debate staged by Centre Dufferin District High School in Shelburne Tuesday at which Ms. Finch and Green Party candidate Ard Van Leeuwen alone took part.

Ms. Finch has achieved a level of notoriety outside the riding with an article last spring on Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Metaball, an online magazine she publishes.

The article, entitled The Singular Face of Megalomania, referred to the prime minister as "a malignant narcissist" and contended that his eyes "only show a glint of real emotion when they're blazing in delight over the taunting or jeering or destruction of someone else."

The article was published in March. Ms. Finch entered politics as the local Liberal candidate in May.

An item on the national Conservative campaign website questions the wisdom of Liberal Bob Rae attending a scheduled Sept. 26 fundraiser with Ms. Finch. It also accuses her of espousing "extremist comments" that include "diminishing the crimes of Adolf Hitler (and) accusing the government of injecting babies to win votes, and callousness towards the victims of natural disasters."

In a similar vein, Mr. Tilson wrote: "Voters need to ask themselves what Ms. Finch's comments say about Stéphane Dion and about her top fundraiser, Bob Rae. Stéphane Dion and his running mate, Bob Rae, need to either defend Rebecca Finch's comments, or pull the plug on her candidacy."

There was no mention on the Conservative website as to where the supposed comments by Ms. Finch originated. "In what is supposed to be such a strong Tory riding, I'm surprised that Tilson feels he has to resort to such a low blow," said Ms. Finch.

Mr. Tilson's alarm at Ms. Finch being involved in the race differs significantly from the beginning of the campaign. At that time, when asked to comment on his opponents, Mr. Tilson said "I don't know the first thing about them. I wouldn't recognize them if I passed them on the street."

Mr. Dion introduced his party's platform on Monday, including dollar figures attached to each of the items. Notable in the platform are a forecast of $40 billion being raised through a carbon tax and a plan to invest $70 billion in infrastructure over the next 10 years.

Mr. Tilson, responding to Mr. Dion's announcement, asked, "how is he going to pay for all this?" adding: "We estimate an annual deficit of $12.5 billion a year and $51 billion over four years."

He also responded to criticisms that the Harper government is maintaining its fiscal policy of GST cuts and debt repayment measures by eating into a $13.2 billion surplus left by the Liberals.

"Why have the money if you're not going to spend it? We want to encourage business in the country to continue and new business to come in. By cutting taxes and cutting debt, business will thrive."

He also said Mr. Dion's carbon tax will add 15 to 30 cents to the price of a litre of gasoline and have a devastating effect on commuters, farmers and truckers in the riding.

Ms. Finch labels Mr. Tilson's claim as "an absolute untruth. The carbon tax will be charged on emissions from big industry. Gasoline prices will be left alone.

The purpose of the Green Shift plan is to help shift people into a new way of living, not drive them into poverty."

She adds that she will, if elected, push for more public transit throughout the riding that will allow people to travel from town to town without using their own vehicles, and to do everyday tasks such as shopping.

"I want that to happen," said Ms. Finch. "I will fight for that to happen."

The Green Party's Mr. Van Leeuwen maintains that the Liberal environmental plan is moving too slowly.

"In reality, the Liberal plan starts five years from now. It's being phased in at too slow a pace. When you compare Canada to countries in Europe, this process should have started 20 years ago."

Mr. Van Leeuwen was also disappointed that Mr. Tilson didn't participate in Tuesday's debate.

"It's frustrating. We had no chance to discuss the issues with him. I ran across one of the Tilson handouts and it essentially said, 'if you want results, vote Tilson.' There was no mention of what those results might be."

He was encouraged, however, by the response he and Ms. Finch received from the students at CDDHS.

"I was very impressed by them," said Mr. Van Leeuwen.

"They were very engaging and asked good questions on everything from Afghanistan to poverty to the economy.

"The quality of their questions was as good as could be found anywhere."