Angry in the Great White North

Talking to reporters with the kickoff of the election, Stephane Dion just continues to dig a hole for the Liberal Party.

The leader of the Liberal Party just told us to go to Jennifer Wright's website to find out about the carbon tax, thanks to a French-to-English translation that got confused:

This federal election fight will provide a stark choice of visions for Canada, says Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.

"Stephen Harper formed the most conservative government in our history," he told reporters in Ottawa on Sunday after the Conservative leader triggered a vote for Oct. 14.

Besides attacking Dion's leadership, the Tories have also blasted the so-called Green Shift, which they have tried to paint as a "tax on everything."

Dion said the plan, which he said would shift taxes from income onto pollution, "is a great plan for Canada."

Other governments around the world have introduced carbon taxes, and those that have done so haven't switched back, he said. Even British Conservative Leader David Cameron supports the idea so long as the revenue is balanced by cuts in other taxes, he said.

"Go see GreenShift.ca and see what it represents for your family," Dion said, portraying the plan as part of the 21st century economy and crucial to fighting dangerous climate change.

Here's the screen shot:

Helpfully, CTV has taken "GreenShift.ca" and turned it into a hyperlink, and correctly sent it to the Liberal Party website for the carbon tax, instead of to the website named by the translator rendering Stephane Dion's French into English.  That website, quoted in the website as it as translated, is the home of Green Shift Inc.

But people don't speak in hyperlinks.  When Stephane Dion was speaking to reporters, the translation got confused.  The confusion was recorded and broadcast and heard and read by thousands of Canadians, who now think that information about the carbon tax can be found at the Liberal Party website at GreenShift.ca.  And when they get there, they'll be confused too.

I suppose that's a form of leadership too.

That is at the heart of the lawsuit.  Stephane Dion has done it before.  David McGuinty has done it. 

And now Stephane Dion has done it again.  By using the name of Jennifer Wright's company for this carbon tax, these sorts of problems were bound to happen, and often.  Now it has happened in front of a live TV audience, quoted directly on the website, with the intensity of the election magnifying the effect. 

More and more people are now assuming that the information they find at GreenShift.ca is Liberal Party information, or that Jennifer Wright supports a carbon tax, or that...well, who knows what they're thinking when they get to where Stephane Dion is sending them.

Update: The translator got confused, and I've made it clear in this post.  Go to the video to time index 4:55.  The wrong website is given in the real-time translation.

Does that get Stephane Dion off the hook?  No, because the problem is that using the name of Jennifer Wright's company is exactly what the argument is about.  Everyone involved gets the names mixed up, then the confusion gets repeated and repeated over and over again.

That's what the injunction is meant to stop.