In a new ad, Pierre Poilievre paints his ideal vision of Canada, from grandparents walking with their grandkids to farmers making a living. However, the now-deleted ad is going viral for the wrong reasons.
The three-minute video features a speech by the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader during the 2024 Calgary Stampede. It is interspersed with clips of children, university students, farmers, and families as he asks people to imagine his version of the Canadian dream.
Though the original video was deleted, others have reuploaded it.
“It’s easy to forget what home and hope look like,” says Poilievre.
…That might be because most of the stock footage featured in the ad wasn’t filmed in Canada.
Eagle-eyed viewers were quick to point out that Poilievre’s Canadian dream is not actually very Canadian.
Calgary-based Twitter user @disorderedyyc breaks down the video clip by clip with details of where each stock footage was filmed.
“Here’s a thread of all the clips I have confirmed to NOT be Canadian,” they stated, starting with a clip of a student that was filmed in Serbia.
The elementary classroom was filmed in Serbia.https://t.co/QUpM4JEsQs
2/ pic.twitter.com/bHHJAe9sHL— disordered (@disorderedyyc) August 18, 2024
As for the dad driving his pickup truck “down that suburban street,” it turns out the scene was shot in “a typical American suburb,” according to the video details on the stock video website.
While it would be great to have more “newly built and affordable Canadian homes,” the video details reveal that the homes featured were in Slovenia.
Newly built Canadian home in Slovenia?
How much is shipping going to cost?🤣https://t.co/nY8ZQGFieK
4/ pic.twitter.com/25YezcGTjS— disordered (@disorderedyyc) August 18, 2024
One scene shows the dad driving in his pickup truck driving along the countryside, which turns out to have been filmed in North Dakota and California.
Pretty sure Canadian cattle don’t graze in California.https://t.co/JOtFsLoSNL
6/ pic.twitter.com/vrqqwfL7Ck— disordered (@disorderedyyc) August 18, 2024
It only gets worse from there.
Poilievre continues to narrate the Canadian dad’s experience, stating, “And he looks up, and what does he see? He sees a brand-new fighter jet. They’re doing a training mission in the sky to defend our home and native land.”
However, one user pointed out that those fighter jets are Soviet-made.
Hey @CPC_HQ I know you suck at this, but why are Canada’s “brand new fighter jets” in your new video the Soviet-made SU-24 and MiG-29?#canpoli https://t.co/j8RIVpI7Hx pic.twitter.com/euHMdwS1Al
— PatrickDCL (@PatrickDLucht) August 18, 2024
The next scenes feature a university student who was filmed at Kyiv Polytechnic in Ukraine, and the following scene is of a female hunter filmed in the US.
The female hunter with “Canadian firearms” was filmed somewhere in the USA.https://t.co/f37yZfJynO
/8 pic.twitter.com/HBqEMjIW55— disordered (@disorderedyyc) August 18, 2024
As for the university student’s imaginary family celebration, that scene was filmed in Tuscany, Italy, where relatives enjoy “a wonderful venison that was shot with totally legal Canadian firearms.”
Family get-together confirmed to be Tuscany, Italy!
I guess it is possible for the student to fly from Ukraine to Italy on the same day & make it in time for some wine to celebrate sobriety!https://t.co/n8YdJbVw0X
Credit to @AMCinHogtown for the solve!https://t.co/MTDyVECNw7 pic.twitter.com/euE7EdYXQU
— disordered (@disorderedyyc) August 19, 2024
The clip of two grandparents taking their grandchild home from school was filmed in Richmond Park, London, while scenes of foothills and the Canadian Rockies were in Wonosobo, Indonesia, and the Uinta Mountains in Utah.
“If you’re making a video about the Canada ‘we know and love,’ maybe you shouldn’t be using pictures of Utah’s Rockies or the ‘foothills’ of Indonesia,” stated X user @disorderedyyc.
The great Canadian Foothills of Wonosobo, Indonesia?🤦https://t.co/7ETY6uNX8J
/10 pic.twitter.com/3RvllZ4pnm— disordered (@disorderedyyc) August 18, 2024
One person pointed out that the school scene, which features Kawartha Montessori School in Ontario, was the only one that appeared to have been filmed in Canada.
Canadians roasted the video on social media, calling the ad “lazy and amateurish.”
Thanks for this. This is so lazy and amateurish – typical of Poilievre’s juvenile approach to the job. Oh, and did I say it is really weird? #Poilevreisweird
— David Robert 🇨🇦 (@bigbobby53) August 18, 2024
Is it laziness or just indifference to Canadians, thinking we would at this point accept what they say without checking?
Because there’s a large reality and simply galactic truth gap with the Conservatives lately. It can’t all be blamed on Trump.
— Fiona Kenny (@fionakennyantiq) August 18, 2024
Thanks for this. Faux patriotism never was this funny or incompetent.
— MondoAB (@MondoAlberta) August 18, 2024
you’d think with a wheat industry as large as canada’s they’d be able to find 1 shot of canadian wheat. pic.twitter.com/85lQga00Jr
— Kenith Banger (@KenithBanger) August 19, 2024
Well done. Thanks for correct info. Canada is beautiful. No reason they couldn’t have gotten great pics from Canada.
— carol hicks ☮️ (@my2twh) August 19, 2024
very good thread. Aside from the Russian fighter jets, my fave part was the inability to differentiate a tractor from a combine.
— T Lakevold (@TaneyLake) August 18, 2024
Some Redditors pointed out the lack of diversity in the ad.
“White fantasy world by Pierre Poilievre. Oh, and it’s a rural world where everyone drives pickups,” stated user OutsideFlat1579. “Not hard to see why it got roasted.”
“Apparently, home in CPC Canada only has white people,” wrote MurtaughFusker.
“That was the most horrific cringe-y LARP cosplay I ever saw, and I now have to go crack my head against a brick wall till I delete that visual,” wrote Redditor datznotpepper.
User Spartanfred104 summed it up by stating, “Wow, that was painful.”
What are your thoughts on Poilievre’s ad? Let us know in the comments.