A video released by the Liberal Party in which Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is shown to express support for a private, “for-profit” health care system in Canada has been flagged by Twitter as manipulated media.
The video, which was released by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Sunday, shows the Tory leader responding “yes” to a question on whether he would allow provinces to experiment with private for-profit and non-profit options within universal healthcare.
The Conservative leader’s answer in the video was cut into several parts, but did not include when O’Toole later said that Canada needs to “make sure universal access remains paramount,” despite the introduction of a private-public system.
According to the social media company’s policy on the issue, Twitter would need reason to believe that the video, or the context in which it’s presented, “are significantly and deceptively altered or manipulated.”
In a statement from Twitter Canada said that the tweets, which were posted in both the English and French, have been labelled.
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“The Tweets in question have both been labelled in line with our global synthetic and manipulated policy,” read the statement.
Prior to Global News request for comment, only the French version of Freeland’s Tweet had been flagged.
A Liberal Party spokesperson told Global News Sunday evening that they disagreed with Twitter’s assessment of the video, and are seeking an explanation from them.
“The post on Twitter included both the full-length answer and highlights of Mr. O’Toole’s comments. The highlights are an accurate reflection of Mr. O’Toole’s statement in its entirety,” said the spokesperson.
“We’ll let Canadians judge for themselves what Mr. O’Toole meant by his comments.”
O’Toole has previously been open with his position on Canadian health care, including being open to a two-tiered healthcare system within provinces.
When asked about his position on a public-private healthcare system at a press conference Sunday, O’Toole flagged his commitment to increase health transfers to provinces.
It’s a promise outlined in the party’s platform, which states that within the first 100 days of taking office, the Conservatives would come to a new agreement on the Canada Health Transfer and raise its annual growth rate to at least six per cent.
A statement obtained Monday from the Conservative Party said that it was “disappointing to see the Liberals resort to American-style divisive politics.”
“While Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are focused on spreading misinformation — Erin O’Toole is focused on Canada’s Recovery Plan and securing the future,” said a spokesperson for the Conservative campaign.
The NDP and Green Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Twitter’s flagging of the video.
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