Halifax West Liberal MP Geoff Regan, staff reuse Trudeau quote in release
For the second time in Nova Scotia, a fill-in-the-blanks press release has been sent using recycled quotations from other politicians.
Last month, the office of MP Scott Armstrong released a statement about accessibility funding for the Amherst Royal Canadian Legion. The work-in-progress document was filled with strikethroughs and exact quotes that had been used in other party announcements across Canada.
The mistake revealed how some Conservative party releases were templates and customized by electoral riding offices.
The new release, however, was sent from the office of Halifax West Liberal MP Geoff Regan and localizes a federal party announcement about funding for veterans.
"For ten years, Stephen Harper draped himself in the Canadian flag, then betrayed the men and women who fought for it. Our veterans represent the very best of what it means to be Canadian," reads the first half of the quote.
The quote's original attribution is struck out — changed from the Liberal candidate for the riding of Halifax, Andy Fillmore.
"As I understand it, we were originally going to do a joint release with Andy," Regan told CBC. "But then once the veteran we had for the quote was from Halifax West, it seemed to make more sense to have it come from my riding."
A Google search reveals a statement dated Aug. 24 from Belleville, Ont. in which Liberal leader Justin Trudeau uses the same words.
The second half of the quote is very similar to the rest of Trudeau's, albeit not word for word — until the last sentence.
"We have a social covenant with our veterans and their families — a sacred obligation that absolutely must be met with the utmost respect and gratitude."
Comparing the two, the word "sacred" is removed from Regan's statement.
Heard that somewhere before?
Regan says he has full confidence in his staff.
"I'm very fortunate to have terrific volunteers," he said.
"It's not surprising to me that if my team were putting together a news release, if the national campaign was doing stuff across the country and my team was working on something, where would they go for the source? They go to national party stuff in the past."
The focus of the release should be the message, he says. He's not worried how the document is interpreted with the mistakes.
"In sharing it. I'm pleased with what my team has produced. In fact, I looked at the release last night when it was presented to me and I made some changes, so I'm not surprised that there are strikethroughs, but I'll take responsibility for those changes."
Stephen McIntosh, who'd sent the Conservative fill-in-the-blanks release while working in Scott Armstrong's office, is currently on leave during the campaign, according to a spokesperson.
