the blog quebecois

Toronto Star:

Facing charges of political sabotage by the powerful head of Sun Media Corporation, the Conservative Party has denied wrongdoing but cut ties with a key political strategist.

The move was made to distance the Stephen Harper campaign from what Sun Media mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau claimed was a dirty trick — the leak of an incriminating photo and damaging information that said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had aided U.S. military planners in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. The photo, forwarded to Sun Media vice-president Kory Teneycke — another former Harper aide — wasn’t of Ignatieff.

Er, seeing as I might have accidentally authored this meme, I think I should comment.

In early 2009, Michael Ignatieff had been, or was about to be installed as Liberal leader (I'm too lazy to look up the exact dates). I was doing an image search for something (I can't remember exactly what), and came across the above picture. I noted that the soldier in the middle was a dead ringer for Iggy (the photo appeared on a military-themed collection of images with no indication of their nationality or where they were taken). I thought they were most likely Americans (or possibly Brits). So I decided to make up a little story about Ignatieff and his rather muscular approach to foreign affairs.

The original post is here. You can see that I pretty obviously intended it as a joke (if there's any doubt, click on the "enhanced" popup that I included with it).

Anyway, it went over about as well as Guy Earle's act. I soon forgot about it, until I got an email about this time last year from a woman who I assumed was a Conservative Party researcher:

My name is _____ _______. I am a biographical researcher and I am preparing a narrative on Michael Ignatieff.

I came across a photo on your blog which appears to be Ignatieff and a group of U.S. soldiers wearing Santa Claus hats:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35393854@N00/3315099894/

Can you share any details with me - is it authentic, where did it originate, etc - or direct me to a reliable source?

To which I replied:

Hi, ______:

No, it was just some random photo that I came across in a Google Image Search. The guy in the middle looked like Iggy, so I decided to have some fun with it.

I don't think she saw it on my blog, but rather on my Flickr photostream. Now, I have no real idea if this is where the whole thing started, or if our wires got crossed and the photo was assumed to be genuine; but let's pretend it did.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.