TORONTO — Canada’s main opposition party today accused the prime minister of plagiarizing a speech that urged the country to join the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
The Liberals released transcripts and video of speeches delivered by then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard on March 18, 2003, and one by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper two days later in the Canadian Parliament.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said nearly half the speech Harper delivered calling for Canadian troops to be sent to Iraq was a word-for-word recitation of the speech by Howard.
“How does a political leader in Canada’s Parliament, on such a crucial issue, end up giving the exact same speech as another country’s leader?” Rae said in excerpts of a speech he gave in Toronto today.
Rae said it was further evidence “of how Canada’s foreign policy is now in lockstep with the right-wing foreign policy of the Bush administration.” Canada’s Liberal government at the time turned down Washington’s request to send troops, while Australia sent troops.
Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke called the plagiarism allegations a desperate move and said the speech was five years old.
“It was three Parliaments ago, two elections ago when he was leader of a party that no longer exists,” Teneycke said of Harper, who was leader of the right-of-center Canadian Alliance party at the time. The party later merged with the Conservative party.
“It’s a desperate Hail Mary and it’s exactly why the Liberals are in the trouble they are in in this election. They are focusing five-year-old speeches.” But Liberal Opposition party leader Stephane Dion said Harper’s speech matters, saying “Canadians want their country to speak with its own voice on the world stage.” “Stephen Harper plagiarized the coalition of the willing of George W. Bush about the war in Iraq. Stephen Harper should be expelled,” Dion said.
Harper’s Conservative party unseated the Liberals Party in 2006 after nearly 13 years in power and Canada has had closer ties with Washington since. Harper triggered an early election earlier this month in a bid to bolster his party’s grip on power in an Oct. 14 vote.
Recent polls show the Conservatives could win the majority of seats in Parliament. As a minority government they have been forced to rely on the opposition to pass budgets and legislation.
