Oct 1 2008
Canada Prime Minister Speech Plagiarized?
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Comment: This is really embarrassing. But the embarrassment won't last long. We commit foolish things for many reasons. For the speech writer, he must not do it again.
BBC – A Canadian Conservative Party speech-writer has resigned after Prime Minister Stephen Harper was accused of plagiarism in a speech he made in 2003.
Owen Lippert admitted he had been "overzealous in copying segments" of a speech in support of the invasion of Iraq by then Australian PM John Howard.
Mr Lippert said neither his superiors nor Mr Harper, who was opposition leader at the time, had been aware.
The accusation comes half-way through a general election campaign.
Mr Harper, who has led a minority government since January 2006, called the snap election for 14 October last month, hoping to obtain a parliamentary majority, for which he needs to win 28 more seats.
Opinion polls suggest the conservatives are within striking distance of doing so, having maintained a near 10-point lead over the Liberals.
The speech by Mr Harper was originally made on 20 March 2003 as the House of Commons in Ottawa held an emergency debate at the beginning of the US-led war in Iraq.
In the debate, Mr Harper urged Canada and the Liberal government to join the so-called "coalition of the willing".
