The NPD also used stock footage from Russia in a video

Mickey Djuric – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published at 1:04 p.m.

• Canada

The New Democratic Party (NDP) has used stock footage from Russia, weeks after criticizing the Conservatives for doing the same thing.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced in a video Wednesday that he was ending his “support and confidence agreement” with the Liberal government, while blaming Conservative policies that he says are hurting Canadians, including retirees.

The video shows archival footage of two seniors sitting at a table looking at their laptops.

From several stock footage sources, including Getty Images, La Presse Canadian was able to independently confirm that this footage originated in Russia. The two seniors also appear in photos on a Russian university website, which claims they are faculty members.

“We obtained the footage from a North American stock footage service,” the NDP said in a written statement. “Nowhere was there any mention of where the video came from. We will be more careful in the future,” the party said.

The same video also showed a family sitting down to breakfast — an image that the website Shutterstock said came from an Israeli-based production company.

The NDP did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the content coming from Israel.

The NDP video, which has been viewed more than three million times on X alone, remains online on all social media platforms.

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While passing through the Montreal riding of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun on Friday morning, Mr. Singh admitted that there had been “a problem with an image.”

“It’s something that I raised with my team and I said that we must not have this error in the future,” he said. “And it’s clear that they will assure me that it will not happen again in the future.”

In August, the New Democrats criticized the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) for using footage from abroad in one of their videos. In one of these clips, Russian fighter jets could be seen.

The Conservative Party removed the video following online backlash, acknowledging that “mistakes can happen”. The panel also noted that a Liberal ad from 2011 was reviewed for its use of stock footage.

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At the time, NDP deputy ethics critic Charlie Angus denounced the use of non-Canadian imagery in political messaging. “I love Canada. I want the next election to be in Canada, for Canada,” Angus said on August 19.

The NDP then denounced the use of “fake, falsified and bogus” digital content.

Government House Leader Karina Gould wrote: “I find it very strange that two major Canadian political parties — the NDP and the CPC — are not more careful in their communications to Canadians about Canadians.”

She said both parties will have to explain why “neither has bothered to use images of real Canadians.”