Unfortunately for Stephane Dion and his coalition of the swilling, sheer incompetence prevented him from getting his grade-school-quality rebuttal tape to the networks on time for a full airing this evening, after the networks cleared time until 7:30 EST for the free publicity. Good news! I’ve got it for you here! As a conservative and a Conservative, I want to make sure as many people as possible see the work of the man who wants to be PM (please note: a book named “HOT AIR” appears above Steffi’s right shoulder on the bookshelf. It was in clear focus and easily spotted when the video appeared on its original broadcast, but appears to have been blacked out when posted online).
UPDATE: If you can’t get the YouTube clip to play, you can get the video from this direct CBC link here: http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/opposition-reacts-081203.wmv
Here’s the amazing, hilarious story behind this video fiasco, from CTV:
Liberals apologize for late delivery of Dion video
Updated Wed. Dec. 3 2008 10:48 PM ET
Josh Visser, CTV.ca News
The Liberals have apologized for Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s taped televised address, after it was delivered to Canadian networks almost an hour past deadline and in near-cellphone quality.
“I apologize for what happened tonight. I apologize for the poor quality and the lateness. I am livid and am doing an investigation as to how this happened,” Johanne Senecal, Dion’s Chief of Staff, said to CTV News tonight.
Dion was supposed to deliver the networks a pre-taped statement to the nation Wednesday between 6: 15 p.m. and 6:30 ET. It was to air after Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the country at 7 p.m. ET about the political crisis on Parliament Hill.
CTV, along with other major Canadian networks, pre-empted regularly scheduled programming to deliver the addresses. Harper went to air shortly after 7 p.m. but networks were left scrambling to fill airspace when Dion’s tape was nowhere to be found.
Alphée Moreau, a senior Liberal communication staffer, explained how the series of technical mistakes on their part resulted in an embarrassing snafu.
The timeline (all times ET):
- 6:15-6:30 – The Liberals miss their promised deadline to deliver Dion’s statement to the television networks.
- 6:40 – Liberals arrive with a single tape at the press gallery in Ottawa. They were supposed to deliver two tapes: one in French, one in English. They arrived with a single tape in DVD-minicam format, which is not broadcast quality.
- Shortly after 6:40 – The Liberals decide to run back to their offices — a block away — because the French portion of the tape needs another edit.
- 7:05 – Liberal staffers are still in their offices as the networks go to air with the Harper address.
- 7:07 – Harper’s statement finishes and network anchors are forced to kill time as they wait for Dion’s address.
- 7:10 to 7:15 – Liberal staffers arrive back at the press gallery on Wellington Street with a DVD-minicam player that they had taken from their own offices, along with the associated cables. There is still only one tape, not two. A press gallery official tells the Liberals that the gallery is not the feed point and an argument ensues. The Liberals ask why they weren’t told that earlier. The feed point is next door at the CBC building, which is the long-established feed play point for all network pools. The Liberals are informed that they need to be walked into the building by authorized staff.
- 7:20 – English network anchors are still live on television, wondering where the tape is. CTV has still had no communications from the Liberals about Dion’s address.
- Approximately 7:15 – CBC receives the tape and begins dubbing into French and English versions. This takes about 10 minutes.
- 7:28 – CTV decides to go off-air and back to regular scheduled programming at 7:30. CTV has still not seen a feed of the tape.
- 7:28 – CBC incorrectly punches out the finished feed only to their network.
- 7:30 – CTV signs off broadcast at scheduled time.
“We missed our deadline,” Moreau said. “The shot was not all that professional. It was soft-focused.”
CTV received angry emails within minutes of signing off. Some viewers thought CTV was ignoring the Liberal leader, while others thought Dion was purposely snubbing the network.
Dion’s coalition partners were both angry and embarrassed by the Liberal address.The NDP said Wednesday’s fiasco undermined the credibility of the coalition, CTV’s Robert Fife reported.
“I’m told that (Bloc Quebecois Leader) Gilles Duceppe ran into Mr. Dion in the elevator and asked ‘What the hell happened?’ and Mr. Dion said, ‘We’re not used to being in opposition,” Fife said.
Jean Lapierre, broadcast journalist and former Liberal MP, mocked the party’s video address.
“This was the cheapest video. I don’t know if the Liberal party has financial problems, but they didn’t have to go to a high school kid to get their video made,” he said on CTV’s Mike Duffy Live. “You ask people to forget about their normal TV show tonight. We did that on TVA. We had a million people waiting for a show call ‘Le Poulet’ — ‘The Chicken.’ We didn’t even get the egg!”
The blogsphere was quick to pounce on Dion’s bumbling performance.
“Stephane Dion was late for the show, looked kind of red faced, and seemed to be getting a couple of bucks for the bankrupt Liberal Party for the product placement of a book entitled, and I kid you not, “Hot Air,” wrote the Alberta Ardvark blog Wednesday.
Flaggman's Canada 
“Coalition of the swilling”. I like that.
Dion is a joke. He can’t run his office effectively enough to produce and deliver a video address. He wants us to believe he can run the Prime Minister’s Office?
What a farce.
Muddled and out of focus…kind of says it all for this back alley abortion known as the Coalition. My God, can you imagine this befuddled fool running the country? What a Dream Team…Dion the Doofus and Comrade Layton. Dion obviously can’t even organize a decent video op! Trust this ninny with our national economy…not bloody likely! Throw in Smilin’ Jack who exudes all the blustering bonhomie and oily trustworthiness of a used car salesman and we can just guess where our hard-earned tax dollars would end up. Can we all spell “Sponsorship Kickbacks”? This is NOT about our economy and NOT about ordinary Canadians. This is all about Roadkill Dion who was kicked to the curb by his own party and smarmy Layton who is always the bridesmaid and never the bride…two power hungry twits who would rather genuflect at the feet of the Separatist Savior Duceppe, than act as rational, non-partisan parliamentarians in order to keep our country on an even keel. What will this sweetheart Quebec deal cost us in terms of money, or unity? You can bet your derriere that ordinary Canadians will never know…after all, this was a Backroom Deal!
Well said, Vic. Welcome.
Not only is Dion roadkill, but he’s dragged his party’s brand with him into the middle of the road, leaving it smack in the path of an 18-wheeler. The Liberal Party of Canada may never recover from the Dion fiasco.
Who would ever have thought, something would befall the Libs that would make us forget even about Adscam!
And people though that this guy could run a coalition? Say what you will about Harper, he runs a cleaner and tighter ship than this clutz.
The fact that enough people thought it was a good idea to let Dion try running the country gives me hives.
Let;s not forget Harper was ready to make the very same backroom deal with the ‘separatists’ in 2004. I know Flaggman embarrassed himself trying to backtrack over that one, but only an idiot would buy that stupidity.
Harper signed a letter to the GG that included the bloc’s signature. Clear as day to anyone with 3 neurons in their head.
Dion may be roadkill indeed, but beating this dead horse about dealing with the separatists is the stuff of morons. Really. The commentor in another post had it correct. All the parties are failing Canadians, including Harper. He is no shining light, only the gullible would think so, as those who think one of the others would be.
It’s time the party leader got over themselves and worked for the good of Canada. And better we keep any of them in minority, to ensure they do.
Embarassed myself? How, exactly? To this moment, I find it amazing that lefties would be so stupid as to justify the ridiculous coalition putsch that their side attempted to pull, by pointing to the non-coalition, non-putsch, that Harper never attempted to pull four years ago. But keep on tryin’, TnT!
TnT is probably one of the people who were calling the ‘would-be-but-never-was’ Con-Bloc coalition of ’04 a travesty of democracy, while supporting this coalition. The media certainly is.
Actually, no. I can see how making that up without actually knowing me can help make yourself feel better about calling the lib/ndp coalition against democracy as all conservatives seem to need to, but you’re plain out of luck. While I thought Paul Martin made a great finance minister, I hated him as prime minister.
I may not like Harper, but if he had gotten the chance to realize his aim at that time it wouldn’t have been unconstitutional, undemocratic, or whatever moronic BS conservative koolaid drinkers are caterwauling.
As far as the media is concerned, they’re merely pointing out that the conservatives tried the same very same thing in 04, which just makes Harper and his MPs look more like liars and hypocrites.
Can you just imagine the screaming if the liberals ever ‘cut and run’ from a non confidence vote and shut down parliament in the midst of an economic crisis? The shrill screams would be absolutely deafening…
flaggman, come on.
Stephen Harper signed a letter to the GG that was signed by the bloc too.
It’s right there in black and white. What’s disturbing is how you need to continually lie about it.
You’re intelligent aren’t you? Think about what had to happen before the bloc put their signature on that letter Harper wrote.
So yes, you’re embarrassing yourself. By publicly posting that lie on this blog, you’re showing anyone that conservatives are hypocritical liars. If the right was sooo great, why all the deception and lies?
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No, TnT…the media was having an anti-conservative fit back in ’04. Every conservative fear mongering trick was brought out and it was a joke.
Unlike now. The media is in love with the idea of a socialist/separatist coalition. I’m merely pointing out the left-wing hypocrisy.
If there’s nothing wrong with the coalition now…then there was nothing wrong with it back then. Live by your own rules. It is not the conservatives who are hypocrites, it is those who were against them in ’04, yet are for this now…just so “their guy” can be in the big chair.
What the media neglects to mention is that discussion back in ’04 never went beyond that…discussions. Not a full-blown written down and ready to rock and roll coalition like this. Apples and oranges.
It went to the point of an official letter to the GG signed by everyone. I’d say that was quite a ‘discussion’. I think you’re splitting hairs here. The point is, the intent. Harper would have went through with it in a heartbeat if he could have, and that’s clear.
Sure, there’s all kinds of people who’ll cry a river and scream when the ‘other guy’ tries to put a coalition together. The author of this blog is one of them. I’m not. As I said, I may not like Harper, but it is well within his right to form a coalition. He could have formed on himself to ensure that his government doesn’t fall, and still could I guess.
As far as the media, from my vantage point, I don’t see the media as being very kind to the coalition, certainly not Dion, unless all you watch is the CBC. Though I see the globe and mail has dropped their endorsement of Harper now, but they do make a good point. Harper really overplayed his hand and caused a crisis that we do not need right now. But I’m not going to let the blame sit just with Harper, I think they all can share some of that, but Harper started it by sticking a hot poker in their eye. What the hell did he expect???
I’m glad to see Dion will step down. I like the guy, but he was sinking big time.
The media at this point in time hates Dion, because they feel he is responsible for the Party’s misfortune. That is how many liberals feel. They don’t like settling for 2nd place.
Once Ignatieff is in, expect a complete 180 overnight. The media is going to push him like he’s “Canada’s Obama”. I guarantee it.
And this isn’t a crisis. Not even remotely. I’ve been around long enough to see real crap go down…a few weeks of politicians bickering isn’t a crisis. It’s cheap entertainment.
http://dysfunctionalparrot.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/style-over-substance-ignatieff-rising/
Well Harper will hope it’ll be enough to cover of this…
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/550044
Move over adscam…
Makes me laugh real hard when I hear conservatives trying to justify 26 million that caused this crap, or the arts cuts (with the lies no doubt) next to this kind of insane overspending.
Not to mention items like Fortier billing us for airfare for his personal stuff. I thought this was Canada’s ‘NEW’ government, y’know, all accountable and stuff,different from the liberals. Looks like we got the same, and worse…
Hey, I’ve got a better idea! How about we let the coalition go ahead and pay a CRAPLOAD out to the unions! Those 3 buffoons all had blank cheques ready to buy off each others co-operation that went into the billions of dollars.
And you counter with consultant spending? Really, are you like, you know, 16? This is kids stuff.
If you’re looking to support “your guy” just because the Conservatives are not the perfect government you were told they would be ( by the media ), then you better get a lot more cynical about politics. No politician should be entirely trusted. Not the one you vote for and not the one I vote for. Heck, I voted Independent last election.
Look beyond the brand name.
Dys, I suspect TnT only read the headline to that article, and not the full text. In it, you will find that the vast majority of that spending to “consultants” was actually attributed to the outsourcing of the student loans program. Not exactly Adscam, eh? But the truth doesn’t matter when you’re blinded by prejudice.
And if it’s one thing you have to love the media for it’s the flashy headlines with vacuous content. God bless Canadian journalism!
Really, I don’t get TnT’s line of thinking at all. First he’s for a coalition to bring down the Conservatives…then he disses the C’s for spending what is a fraction of what the coalition would spend pacifying the unions and separatists.
Then he accuses the C’s of being the same level of corruption as Liberals and in doing so feels that removes any guilt from the Lib’s.
This logic is a little hard to follow.
you guys are hilarious.
I have in no way removed guilt from the liberals. I’m simply responding to the howls of accountability and ‘fiberals’ etc. when I have watched the conservatives to the same damn things. And to you flaggman justifying the insane spending, makes it even funnier. This is but one example, we all know the tories have not been fiscally responsible. But then as this blog is a testament to, you will justify just about anything to see your party of choice victorious.
And dys, you should really be used to ‘that logic’. The tories have been using it from the day they took office and began patronage appointments of unelected people.
oh. And it wasn’t the ‘media’ that told me the conservatives would be different.
You want to call me 16? How old are you? Were you not listening the Harper pounding in the fact that he would lead an accountable government and reign in spending? Puleeease. The media.
Harper himself promised over and over again. He lied, and the liberals or whoever have NOTHING to do with it. Accept it. The conservatives are no more trustworthy than the liberals. I believe they make far stupider choices, and we are seeing the results of them now.