Canadian comedy and social commentary legend Rick Mercer has fired back at the Conservative Party of Canada and a Burnaby federal election candidate over a meme that faked one of his most famous quotes.
The meme was posted on the Facebook page of the Burnaby North-Seymour Conservative Constituency Association – the candidate for the riding is Heather Leung. It has since been taken down but a screenshot is attached to this story. The screenshot had been tweeted to Rick Mercer a few days ago by CPAC reporter Catherine Pope, but it wasn’t until today (Tuesday) that Mercer – who hosted his own CBC show for many years – responded on Twitter.
Dear @AndrewScheer & good folks at @Cpc_hq - Your candidate in Burnaby North Seymour is distributing a Meme on social media with my face and the words "Vote Conservative" indicating it is a quote from me. Not true. All fake. Please Stop. #WhoAreThesePeople? #Cdnpoli #yuck
— Rick Mercer (@rickmercer) September 17, 2019
“Dear @AndrewScheer & good folks at @CPC_hq – Your candidate in Burnaby North Seymour is distributing a Meme on social media with my face and the words ‘Vote Conservative’ indicating it is a quote from me. Not true. All fake. Please Stop. #WhoAreThesePeople? …. #yuck.”
On Monday, the NOW had a story about how Leung and the Burnaby North-Seymour Conservative Constituency Association posted a meme suggesting the death of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by walking off a cliff.
Leung’s supporters also posted a comment underneath the Facebook post that says, “We need a strong wind to push him to his death.” This comment was posted six days ago and was still up on the page as of Tuesday morning.You can read that story here.
Leung has repeatedly refused to respond to messages from the media for comment on her policies.
According to Elections Canada, "there is no prohibition in the Canada Elections Act with respect to false or misleading statements about endorsements."
