Conservatives use photo of wrong type of salmon in campaign ad
Haydn Watters | CBC News | Posted: August 24, 2015 7:00 PM | Last Updated: August 24, 2015
Tories draw laughs after misidentifying Atlantic salmon as Pacific
Stephen Harper announced a $15 million plan to protect salmon habitat in B.C last week, but the Tories made a bit of a blunder rolling out the news online. The Conservatives used a picture of an Atlantic salmon instead of a Pacific salmon in posts touting the plan on social media and on the party website.
The photo is easily searchable on the iStock online photo database, where it is listed with the keyword "Atlantic Ocean".
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The Conservatives quickly deleted the photo and replaced it with one of a Pacific salmon, but not before it caught the notice of the Ottawa Citizen and users on Twitter.
The Green Party was quick to jump on the error.
Others pointed out how big of an offence it is to mistake a salmon in B.C.
It turns out the "wrong fish" was not even from Canada at all. It's actually from the U.K.
The Ottawa Citizen found out the photo was taken by photographer Lee Sutterby in Hexham, a market town in the north east part of the U.K.
And that revelation brought it back full circle to another government program.
Justin Trudeau's top adviser Gerald Butts was among those who made cracks about the temporary foreign workers program.
Some were wondering why the Conservatives didn't just ask the Scouts.
There was more to the salmon announcement than the photo faux pas. The campaign stop also introduced the world to the 'Middle Kid' — a scout who sassily stood beside Harper and became a social media star.
A spokesperson for Scouts Canada says it is against scouts policy to have anyone in a uniform involved in political activities. Some on Twitter combined this confusion with the misidentified fish.