The video is a ‘candidates meeting voters’ segment from last night’s CBC Saskatchewan news. It shows Regina South Saskatchewan Party candidate Bill Hutchison approaching potential voters in Regina’s Southland Mall. The NDP’s Yens Pedersen is in the segment, too, going door-to-door (he actually has a door shut on him). It’s supposed to be unscripted.
The problem: the “strangers” Hutchison “meets” at the mall are actually Sask. Party campaign workers.
It was a set-up by Hutchison and/or his people to make him look good on camera.
I don’t understand what Hutchison thought he was doing. This is dishonest. it shows contempt for voters, for campaigning and for democracy. It’s also cowardly — is he afraid someone will criticize him or his party on camera?
It’s also embarrassingly amateur, like something you’d see from especially inept student politicians.
And it’s stupid and reckless — there was an excellent chance Hutchison would get caught, as he in fact was.
Hats of to Geoff Leo and CBC for not being fooled by Hutchison’s trick.
I have one complaint: CBC currently has a misleading headline on the online version of this story. “Strange Tale from The Campaign Trail”? No, not at all. This isn’t a “strange tale”. This is a dishonest politician who pulled a stunt to make himself look good on TV. The headline is a misleading description of the situation.
CBC: please replace the headline with something accurate. Otherwise great work.
