The Hitler Parody Video the New Brunswick Liberals Don't Want You To See!

New Brunswickers vote Monday in their 38th general election. They will decided either to keep incumbent Premier David Alward and his Progressive Conservative government or choose Liberal Brian Gallant as their new premier. Only PCs and Liberals had seats in the legislature at dissolution but the NDP, led by Dominic Cardy, believe they have a good shot at one or two.

And while there are some serious issues at play in this campaign, one of the odd issues that cropped up in the campaign’s dying days was a Hitler parody video in which Gallant was, apparently, a German general and the MLA for Shedica-Cap-Pelé, Victor Boudreau, was Hitler. (I annotate the above for non-New Brunswickers below) The Liberals demanded apologies from the NDP, a  party that has not had a seat in the legislature since 2003. We’re not exactly sure who created this video but some New Democrats put this out on their social media feeds and that has drawn incredible Liberal indignation, fueled by the fact that Gallant’s grandfather ended up in a Nazi concentration camp because he helped European Jews escape during the Second World War. On live television, the NDP leader tried to apologize for whatever role his partisans played but Gallant — in high dudgeon — refused.

Now, there are dozens and dozens of  these Hitler parody videos. There are at least three featuring Stephen Harper as Hitler and I’ve never heard Harper complain.  The UK Daily Telegraph even provided a handy listing of their favourite 25 such parodies say  these spoofs have become “one of the enduring memes of the Web.”  YouTube has an entire channel devoted to these Hitler parodies. There’s new ones all the time. Here’s Hitler learning the Scotland has voted no. There’s even a Hitler parody in which Hitler complains about the parodies!

Now, I have opinions about the New Brunswick Liberal reaction to this parody. I think it’s way over the top and that they should have shrugged their shoulders and moved one. I said as much on my program, Battleground, on Sun News Network on Friday.  But you’ll also want to watch this clip for the video of  Gallant’s refusal to accept an offered apology from Cardy in the midst of a debate moderated by CTV’s Steve Murphy.

Need help with NB jokes?

If you’re just coming to the New Brunswick provincial election, here’s some things you need to know to get the jokes in the parody:

    • Brian Gallant’s Liberal Party has been leading in the few polls done in that province for over a year. There have been four public domain polls released since the campaign started, two by Corporate Research Associates and two by Forum Research. While each firms has some different numbers, the trend is similar: What was a monster lead at the beginning (19 points in CRA poll one) by the Liberals over the incumbent PCs has narrowed but still seems healthy enough.
    • “Leader Boudreau” is, presumably, a reference to Victor Boudreau, a Liberal MLA who was interim leader of the New Brunswick Liberals until Gallant won the permanent job. Boudreau, who was finance minister in Shawn Graham’s cabinet, is s cinch for cabinet if Gallant wins government Monday. The video’s creators have made Boudreau the Hitler character.
Boudreau
The creator of this parody has apparently designated this charactor as that of NB Liberal Leader Brian Gallant.
  • “Dominic, Brian, Roger, and Ottawa consultants …” The Dominic here is almost certainly Dominic Leblanc, the Liberal MP who is co-chair of the NB Liberal campaign. The “Ottawa consultants” may be a reference to David Herle and his Gandalf Group who, several reports said, are doing polling for the NB Liberals. Herle has just come off managing the super-successful majority-producing campaign of Kathleen Wynne in Ontario. But I’m pretty sure Herle and Gandalf Group are Toronto-based. I’m not plugged in enough to know who Roger is. The “Brian” though, would seem to be the 32-year-old Liberal Leader Brian Gallant. The video’s creators have assigned him the role of a Nazi general.
  • “Murphy” and “Forestell” are Steve Murphy, Halifax-based anchor of CTV Atlantic and Harry Forestell, anchor of CBC TV New Brunswick.  Gallant’s interviews with Forestell were, in my view, the most disastrous I’ve ever seen a leader give.
  • “The Farmer” That’s the incumbent premier, Progressive Conservative leader David Alward.
  • “Now Cardy is gaining on us”. That would be NB NDP Leader Dominic Cardy. And while the behaviour of the Liberals over the last week — not to mention their indignation over this video — would suggest the NDP are causing problems for the Liberals, the four polls we have seen have shown NDP support has weakened over the course of the campaign.”Coon” is David Coon, leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick.
  • “Shannon” No idea who that is. Anyone?

Now the NB Liberal Hitler parody is not the funniest one you’re ever going to see. The best-ever at making Hitler funny was Mel Brooks (Jewish!) The Producers. Here’s the signature tune from that terrific musical:

An unprecedented disaster of an interview for the Liberal leading in New Brunswick

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CBC New Brunswick Harry Forestell, left, takes no prisoners in the “re-do” interview with New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant.

With just five full days of campaigning to go until New Brunswickers vote on Monday, Liberal Leader Brian Gallant will be struggling to recover from the worst media interview a politician ever gave in mid-campaign since Stéphane Dion got confused in the 2008 federal election.

But while Gallant’s mix-up, like Dion’s, involved a re-do, Gallant cannot blame his media interlocutor for a confusing, ill-worded question.

In the re-do, in fact, he did the exact opposite of making things right. He was forced to admit, time and again, his own errors and, in doing so, dissembled at least twice. Continue reading An unprecedented disaster of an interview for the Liberal leading in New Brunswick

Liberals held dominant lead at start of New Brunswick campaign

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In this photo, displayed at federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s Flickr feed, Brian Gallant addresses a rally in Fredericton. A new poll from Forum Research says Gallant stands a good chance of being New Brunswick’s premier.
Click here to see more photos of Trudeau’s visit to Gallant’s rally in Fredericton.

Brian Gallant’s New Brunswick Liberal Party held a commanding lead over incumbent Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward as the province’s 38th general election opened,  the first public domain poll of the campaign concludes.

The poll, done by Toronto-based Forum Research  and released Saturday, said Gallant’s Liberals had the support of 46% of voters compared to Alward’s PCs at 31%. The New Brunswick NDP, led by Dominic Cardy, was at 15% while the New Brunswick Greens led by David Coon were at 7%. Continue reading Liberals held dominant lead at start of New Brunswick campaign

Health Care workers in New Brunswick: Graham vs Alward

  New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant opened up the second day of the 38th General Election in his province in Rexton, talking about the Liberal plan to improve healthcare delivery. [Read the plan here]  

  Continue reading Health Care workers in New Brunswick: Graham vs Alward

The first whopper of the New Brunswick election campaign

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New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant, seen above at the 2014 Liberal Party of Canada convention in Montreal, announce his party’s healthcare proposals on Friday.
(JOEL LEMAY/AGENCE QMI)

Just as Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne tried to use Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a bogeyman early in her successful election campaign earlier this summer, so too is New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant quickly introducing Harper as a character in the just-launched New Brunswick election campaign. Gallant is way ahead in the polls and is trying to unseat incumbent Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward.

On Saturday, federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will campaign with Gallant and one would assume both Alward will be thrashed with whatever sins Liberals are accusing Harper of committing these days.

But let’s focus on what Gallant said on the campaign trail Friday, day two of the campaign. There’s this quote:
Continue reading The first whopper of the New Brunswick election campaign

The next Liberal to win a majority? Safe bet, it'll be Brian Gallant

They may have had a disastrous decade federally, sinking to the third party in the House of Commons, in the province’s, Liberals are on a roll.

Starting with Stephen McNeil in Nova Scotia last fall, and Philippe Couillard in Quebec and Kathleen Wynne in Ontario this spring (below), it’s been one Liberal majority after another. (If you believe Christy Clark is a Liberal in the same vein as McNeil, Couillard, and Wynne — and I, for one,  do not believe she belongs in that same political category and, in fact, belongs in a category that likely includes Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall  — you could extend this Liberal win streak back to the spring of 2013.) Continue reading The next Liberal to win a majority? Safe bet, it'll be Brian Gallant

Liberals ascendant in Atlantic Canada

There was a monster-sized voter turnout in the Newfoundland and Labrador leadership race which concluded over the weekend. As Liberal Matt Ostergard notes (in video above), the voter turnout amounted to nearly 5 per cent of the entire population of the province or nearly 24,000 votes cast. Dwight Ball was the eventual winner.

But voter turnout number is just the latest indicator of how ascendant Liberals are in Atlantic Canada politics these days. Continue reading Liberals ascendant in Atlantic Canada