(Ottawa) The Conservative Party of Canada has removed an online video that promoted Canadian values but featured Russian fighter jets, according to the office of the Minister of National Defence.
The video was posted by the party on the X platform over the weekend with the slogan “Canada. Our Home”; the video featured a speech given by leader Pierre Poilievre at the Calgary Stampede.
In the video, Poilievre told the story of a Canadian who looked up to the sky to see a brand new fighter jet that he said was “getting ready to defend our homes and our country.”
But according to Defense Secretary Bill Blair’s spokesman, the planes that were intercut into the video while Poilievre was saying that were Russian Su-17 and Su-27 aircraft.
X-platform users and New Democrats were also quick to point out that the planes appeared to be Russian-owned and that other archival footage used in the party’s video was not actually Canadian.
After criticism posted online, the Conservative Party removed the video, saying to err is human, while noting that a 2011 Liberal ad had also come under scrutiny for its use of stock footage.