Plagiarizing former Australian Prime Minister John Howard
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On March 17, 2003, former Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced in the House of Commons that Canada would not send troops to Iraq. That same day, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in an address to the nation that Saddam Hussein must leave Iraq within 48 hours.
The next day, on March 18, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard delivered an address to the Australian House of Representatives to express support for sending Australian troops to Iraq – one of only four nations in the world to do so [1].
On March 20, the U.S.-led invasion began – without the backing of NATO – with U.S. forces launching their “shock-and-awe” bombing raid on Baghdad.
Stephen Harper Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Later that day, Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper – then leader of the Official Opposition – delivered an address in the House of Commons. It was in response to a motion of the Bloc Quebecois which had called for Canada to stay out of the war. He later voted against the motion [2].
Almost half of Mr. Harper’s speech was an exact word-for-word replicate of Mr. Howard’s speech given less than two days earlier [3].
Mr. Harper also used that plagiarized speech as a basis for several editorials on the subject. They appeared in such as publications as the National Post [4], the Toronto Star [5], the Ottawa Citizen [6] and the Wall Street Journal [7].
Mr. Harper’s desire to join Mr. Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” was widely condemned. And history has shown that condemnation to be well-targeted.
When the plagiarism became public, the reaction was swift.
Maclean’s magazine Paul Wells said:
“I find it extraordinary that on a central issue or claim of Stephen Harper to superior moral force, which is his foreign affairs and defence policy, he was clipping speeches off cereal boxes instead of doing his own thinking … I have no idea how the prime minister will respond to the next war, except to look at how he responded to the last war. And if Harper was so cavalier to choose his words on such a decision, it doesn't flatter him in terms of how he treated the fundamental decision itself. I think that's what matters.” [8]
And the Toronto Star’s Chantal Hébert said:
« Dans une salle de rédaction ou dans une université, le texte du discours prononcé en mars 2003 par Stephen Harper dans le cadre d’un débat aux Communes sur la participation du Canada à la guerre en Irak ne passerait pas ce que les anglophones appellent le “smell test”. » [9]
References
[1]Link to Mr. Howard's speech on the Parliament of Australia's official website: http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr180303.pdf
[2] Link to Mr. Harper's speech on the official Parliament of Canada website: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=771117&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=37&Ses=2#Int-464588
[3] Click here to watch Mr. Harper and Mr. Howard deliver their speech:
http://www.liberal.ca/video_e.aspx?guid=4666DC99-F70E-4FFD-A461-FF1B3A060706
[4] “The Canadian Alliance refuses to be neutral,” Page A20, Byline: Stephen Harper, Friday, March 21, 2003
[5] “The case for joining war,” Page A25, Byline: Stephen Harper, Friday, March 21, 2003
[6] “Canada should stand with its allies,” Page B7, Byline: Stephen Harper, Saturday, March 22, 2003
[7] “Canadians Stand With You,” Byline: Stephen Harper and Stockwell Day, 3/28/03
[8] CBC Newsworld, September 30, 2008
[9] Chantal Hébert, blog, September 30, 2008
