Canada’s Conservative Party has deleted a social media campaign video with a strong nationalist message after large parts of the video showed scenes from other countries, including Ukrainian farmers, Slovenian homes, London’s Richmond Park and two Russian fighter jets.
The video, titled “Canada. Our Home,” was first posted on X on Saturday. Various scenes are superimposed with a speech by party leader Pierre Poilievre. The Conservatives, who are ahead of the ruling Liberals in the polls, are preparing for a federal election that is widely considered to be hotly contested.
Shortly after the video was posted online, viewers pointed out that much of the footage portrayed as “Canadian” could easily be traced to locations outside the country. A thread on X by Calgary-based user @disorderedyyc included at least 13 inconsistencies, adding: “If you’re going to make a video about the Canada we know and love, you should use real Canadian footage.”
The bloopers included: The scene of a “Canadian father” driving through the suburbs was actually archive footage from North Dakota in the US; a clip of children attending class was filmed in Serbia; the “Canadian-built” houses were under construction in Slovenia; and at a post-secondary educational institution in Ukraine, a university student was filmed “late for class”.
A scene in which a child walks with his grandparents was filmed in London’s Richmond Park, and a family reunion in which the group “enjoys a wonderful venison shot with entirely legal Canadian firearms” was filmed in Italy.
Even scenes that were explicitly intended to show Canadian landscapes were set in far-flung locations. A scene showing the foothills of the Alberta Rocky Mountains was taken from a clip from Indonesia. In California, cattle grazing on a vast pasture were filmed. One of the final scenes, a sunset over which the words “We are home” are superimposed, was shot in Venezuela.
The scene that has caused the most controversy involves two fighter jets in the sky.
“They are conducting a training mission in the sky and preparing to defend our homeland and our fatherland,” Poilievre says in the video.
A spokesman for the Canadian Defense Minister said the two aircraft were Russian Su-17 and Su-27 jets.
“Shockingly, Mr. Poilievre’s dream for Canada involves Russian fighter jets flying over our beautiful prairies on a ‘training mission,'” Daniel Minden said in a statement Monday.
“This is happening while Russia continues its illegal, groundless war against Ukraine, violating the international rules that ensure the security of all of us.”
The party deleted the video shortly after the wave of criticism, but users kept it online. Conservative Party spokeswoman Sarah Fischer confirmed the removal. “Mistakes happen, as you can see here,” she said.
New Democratic Party deputy ethics critic Charlie Angus mocked the video.
“I call on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to make a clear and public commitment to stop using fake, bogus, fabricated digital content to support his campaign and to condemn any outside attempts to do the same,” he said in a statement. “I love Canada. I want the next election to be in Canada and for Canada.”
