Inside Politics

CASE CLOSED: Copenhagen-anigans: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ...

by Kady O'Malley Posted: December 14, 2009 9:24 AM Last Updated: December 14, 2009 8:31 PM
... parody is quite the opposite, as our embattled environment minister discovered this morning when he discovered that an alternate twitterverse version of himself had announced, on Canada's behalf, an "ambitious plan for a new climate change framework that answers vital concerns voiced by developing nations" that would "strict new emissions-reductions guidelines for Canada and fast-tracks financing for vulnerable countries beginning in 2010."

The catch? The whole thing was a hoax -- a "childish prank," according to PMO, as reported by Colleague McDiarmid soon after the Prentice pretender first tweeted about it earlier this morning.

As yet, the prankster is unknown, although the similarly sharp-eyed satire-spotters at Climate Justice suggest that it could be the work of the folk legendary hinjinksters known as the Yes Men. But although the faux Environment Canada website is, for the most part, a faithful replica of the original, it doesn't seem to have fooled too many journalists for long, either: CanWest's David Akin and the Globe's Steve Wicary and the Ottawa Citizen Gargoyle were among those playing armchair detective on twitter earlier this morning. So far, the only media outlet to pick up the story appears to be this one -- ostensibly the European edition of the Wall Street Journal -- which itself appears to be of questionable legitimacy.

So, who's to blame? Or, depending on how you feel about parody as a tool of political protest, who gets the credit? Share your theories in the comments, and I'll update this post when and if we find out.

UPDATE: The government issues an official response to the "hurtful rumours" generated by the release .... or does it? No, turns out it's another fake, albeit one that employs markedly more sophisticated URL spoofing technology, although as the Globe's Doug Saunders points out via tweet, the language makes it sound "as though a bunch of humanities scholars took over the Tories."  

AND NOW, THE VIDEO: Okay, seriously? This is one exceptionally carefully orchestrated bit of convention theatre. Check out this surreal press conference, at which the Ugandan delegation to the conference reacts to the details of our entirely non-existent "new climate debt mechanism." 

(My thoughts, as the video progressed: "Is the Ugandan delegation in on the joke? Wait, is that even really the Ugandan delegation? Is there a Ugandan delegation at COP15 at all? And why doesn't this ever happen at First Ministers' conferences? Probably because we'd notice if someone tried to sneak in as premier of a previously unknown province, huh?") 

WHAT'S ADORABLE IS HOW HE ACTUALLY THOUGHT IT WOULD WORK UPDATE --Corporate Knights' Toby Heaps, who is blogging from COP15 for the Toronto Star, has what is likely to be welcome news for the still-masked media bandits behind this morning's stunt: Yes, your efforts have indeed been noticed by Canada's real environment minister, and its impact is apparently being felt: 

Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice just finished his press conference and he dismissed the hoax press releases, saying "I am here to negotiate." The Minister's press people distributed a release for a photo-op of U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Prentice to occur shortly after the press conference, outside of the offices of the U.S. delegation.

I showed up there and noticed Steve Kelly, Prentice's chief of staff, having a raised voice exchange with a member from the U.S. delegation. The problem was the U.S. delegation hadn't given the green light for a photo-op, just for closed bilateral meeting between the two.

Over the course of 10 minutes, Kelly repeatedly asked the U.S. delegation official to reconsider, to which the U.S. delegation official replied, negative. When Kelly asked for this to be taken up the chain of command, the U.S. delegation official replied "it came from pretty high up. It's not going to happen."

The U.S. official said he didn't understand why the photograph was so important, to which Kelly replied "we were carpetbagged this morning by (environmental non-governmental organizations) with a false press release, I gotta change the story."

According to Heaps, the US did eventually agree to a compromise: one official Canadian photographer would be permitted to take a picture inside the meeting room. Somehow, I'm betting that's not going to "change the story" enough for Steve Kelly, who, as it turns out, is now part of it. 

LET THE FINGERPOINTING BEGIN -- Earlier today, PMO spokesperson Dimitri Soudas sent out the following note to media, which suggested, although it didn't outright accuse, Canadian environmental group Equiterre of being behind the hoax: 

Dear media, 

You may have received a release entitled: 

"CANADA ANNOUNCES REVISED FIGURES FOR EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS, RELIEF FUNDS"

This is not a government of Canada press release. 

We're told it may have been issued by mr. Guilbault from equiterre. 

If that's the case, time would be better used by supporting Canada's efforts to reach an agreement instead of sending out hoax press releases. 

More time should be dedicated to playing a constructive role instead of childish pranks. 


Equiterre's Guilbeault had this to say in response:

 
"Mr. Guilbeault clearly indicated that he is not the source of this spoof. Neither is Equiterre. It is shameful that Office of the Prime Minister is making such accusations without any proof. 
Mr. Guilbeault and Equiterre are asking Dimitri Soudas to retract his accusations and to present his excuses. We also deeply regret that Canada's position on cilmate change is nowhere near the one presented on Environment Canada's fake website. 
 Equiterre suggests that the Associate Director, Communication/Press Secretary, Dimitri Soudas, from the Prime Minister office, should stop throwing baseless accusations. A better way to use his time would probably be to advise the Canadian government to change its deeply flawed position on climate."

QUASI-HEATED-EXCHANGE-IN-FRONT-OF-REPORTERS-CAPTURED-ON-VIDEO UPDATE: Watch the video of a confrontation between Soudas and Guilbeault in Copenhagen. Not too much of a donnybrook as far as scrum scraps go, but they do accuse each other of playing games with a serious issue, as well as point at each other a couple of times before Guilbeault demands an apology and Soudas, not obliging, leaves.

Meanwhile, the Star is reporting that the "main source" for the spoof is the Canadian Youth Delegation, although notes that, at least for the moment, they don't want to take credit for it.

LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE UPDATE: The Star's Copenhagen blog has now deleted the above reference, and the post now refers only to the hoax being "trademark Yes Men." 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Canada Youth Delegation tells CBC.ca that, far from being behind the hoax, they actually believed it -- or, at least, really wanted to believe it. 

IT'S ALL FALLING INTO PLACE UPDATE: Colleague Cudmore has been sleuthing the day away, and reports on what he's managed to find out here. 

WE HAVE AN ANSWER: Turns out it was the Yes Men after all. Feel free to collect your winnings. Personally, I'm still going to tune in for tomorrow's big reveal, if only to get the back story.

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