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.
On March 20, the United States-led invasion began – without the backing of NATO – with U.S. forces launching their “shock-and-awe” bombing raid on Baghdad.
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.
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.
Mr. Harper also used that plagiarized speech as a basis for several editorials on the subject.
Mr. Harper’s desire to join George W. Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” was widely condemned. And history has shown that condemnation to be well-targeted.
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