The government hit delete on Terry Fox.
That鈥檚 how Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre put it when he posted a nearly five-minute video on Twitter condemning the Liberal government for its passport redesign, while standing in front of the National War Memorial, another image removed from future Canadian passports.
That video, which calls the passport Prime Minister Justin Trudeau鈥檚 鈥渃olouring book鈥� because it features images of a squirrel eating a nut and a man raking leaves, reached nearly a million people in a week, far exceeding Poilievre鈥檚 other recent videos.
鈥淭his is troll politics,鈥� said Jason Hannon, an associate professor at the University of Winnipeg in the department of rhetoric, writing and communications.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not like Canadian identity has ever hinged on passport design. It鈥檚 not like Canadians ever went to bed at night thinking happy thoughts about passports. It鈥檚 an utterly fabricated issue.鈥�
The Liberals aren鈥檛 the first to 鈥渄elete鈥� marketing, branding or advertising work done by previous governments, said Alex Marland, a professor of political science at Memorial University of Newfoundland who studies political marketing.
鈥淭he reality is that all governments do these things and shape countries in their own image whenever they can,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he general pattern is the Liberal party tends to take Canada in a more independent direction, and Conservatives tend to take Canada in a more historical direction, in a history as they perceive it.鈥�
Marland said a specific portrait of Queen Elizabeth II would hang in the foreign affairs office when Conservatives were in power, and be replaced with artwork by a Quebec artist when the Liberals took office.
Then there was former prime minister Stephen Harper, who repainted the government plane red, white and blue with 鈥淭rue North Strong and Free鈥� written on it, and put 鈥渞oyal鈥� back into the names of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy.
The Liberals have been involved in changing the coat of arms, the national anthem and the Canadian flag to the current versions.
While it鈥檚 not new for politicians to attack government decisions, Poilievre has framed the passport redesign as a culture war issue, suggesting that Canadian history, identity, values and iconic figures are at stake, said Hannon, who鈥檚 writing a book on the topic.
Hannon said a culture war is a battle for the heart and soul of a nation. The notion exploded in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic with the politicization of masks and vaccines.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a struggle to define what we stand for, what we should be striving for. It鈥檚 a struggle over what it means to belong to this or that country, over what it means to be Canadian, who we are and who we鈥檙e not,鈥� Hannon said.
鈥淪o if you can control that conversation, you can wield considerable political power.鈥�
Hannon said this can lead to a harmful and toxic culture, like what has been seen in the United States in recent years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 severely corrosive to the culture of democracy because it elevates these fake issues over real and substantive issues,鈥� he said.
鈥淯nfortunately, when you don鈥檛 have a meaningful political vision for a better society 鈥� when you can鈥檛 actually say what it is that you want for Canada other than vague ideas and meaningless talk about 鈥榝reedom鈥� 鈥� then you stoke fear and outrage and hatred.鈥�
He said if politicians are successful in stoking that fear, they can 鈥渂ring people who would ordinarily never talk to each other 鈥� in a kind of unison, shouting against the enemy.鈥�
But given that the next government can bring in its own redesign, some say the outrage is overblown.
鈥淭hese things are not forever. We鈥檙e not redesigning our Parliament buildings that will be built for 100 years,鈥� said David Soberman, a professor of marketing at the University of Toronto.
鈥擬ickey Djuric, The Canadian Press
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