NDP MP raps Conservative over ‘fake news’ video

NDP MP Matthew Green says Conservative MP Branden Leslie should apologize for a video published on Leslie’s social media accounts that mixes clips from television newscasts with doctored clips and out-of-context clips.

“It ought to be absolutely unacceptable,” Green said. “And and there should be an ethical consensus amongst parties that we will not partake in this type of misinformation and disinformation.”

Green is a member of the House of Commons standing committee on ethics, access to information and privacy, which is in the midst of a study of the effects of misinformation and disinformation on parliamentarians. He said he would ask the committee to consider Leslie’s video as part of its deliberations.

The four-minute-long video is a critique, narrated by Leslie, of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s legacy. It imagines a day when Trudeau has resigned and, to use Leslie’s phrase, “the media … fawn all over him” and his legacy.

But in making that point, the producers of the video use the logo, screen layout and design of both CTV and CBC newscasts with fake headlines and other text imposed on top. One sequence uses what looks like a few seconds recorded from CTV News Channel with the headline “Justin Trudeau Resigns as Prime Minister” and the sub-headline “Concludes historic 10-year mission to destroy Canada.” Another sequence that looks like it might be recorded from a CBC News broadcast contains a similar headline.

The Leslie video also includes an excerpt of CBC journalist Rosemary Barton interviewing Mark Carney with a sub-headline that reads: “Mark Carney explains why foie gras is so crucial to his morning routine.”

No such sequences ever aired on either CTV or CBC and, in a brief interview Thursday, Leslie said that