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Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole speaks to the media as he makes an announcement in Edmonton, on Aug. 21, 2021.
Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
A lawyer for the federal Conservatives has asked Elections Canada to investigate a Liberal Party video of Tory Leader Erin O’Toole, posted to Twitter, that the social media platform deemed manipulated.
Arthur Hamilton said in a letter to Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves C?té on Monday that the agency should look into remedial powers to have the video removed from any platform where it has been published.
The video, posted to Twitter Sunday on the account of Liberal candidate and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, uses edited clips from a talk Mr. O’Toole gave about privatized health care while he was running for the Conservative leadership in July, 2020.
Canadian federal election 2021: Latest updates and essential reading ahead of Sept. 20 vote
In one clip, asked if he would allow provinces to experiment with health care reform, including private, “for-profit” and non-profit options inside universal health coverage, Mr. O’Toole says, “Yes.”
He goes on to talk about “public-private synergies,” but the Liberal video removes his comments about ensuring that “universal access remains paramount.”
Twitter later labelled the French and English versions of the video “manipulated media.” According to its policy, entities may not “deceptively promote synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm.” The social media site says it may label tweets containing synthetic or manipulated media “to help people understand their authenticity and to provide additional context.”
Speaking in Halifax at a health care announcement promising to spend $6-billion to eliminate wait lists, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau stood by the video, saying Mr. O’Toole’s response to the question had also been posted online in full. “What’s really important here is that in the middle of a pandemic, Erin O’Toole came out unequivocally in support of private health care in terms of for-profit health care. We posted the entire interview … and I encourage all Canadians to take a look to see what Erin O’Toole has to say about what he sees in the future of health care,” Mr. Trudeau said.
In a statement Sunday evening, Liberal Party spokesperson Alex Lawrence said that comments by Mr. O’Toole on Twitter “included both the full-length answer and highlights.
“The highlights are an accurate reflection of Mr. O’Toole’s statement in its entirety,” he said. “We disagree with the assessment and are seeking an explanation from Twitter.”
Mathew Clancy, the manager of media relations for the Conservative campaign, said Sunday that it is “disappointing to see the Liberals resort to American-style divisive politics.” He also said the Conservatives are focused on a recovery plan for the country while Mr. Trudeau and the Liberals “are focused on spreading misinformation.”
Earlier in the campaign, Twitter removed a Conservative video that had superimposed Mr. Trudeau’s face onto a young girl’s body in a scene from the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The social media company cited copyright concerns for that decision.
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