Canada's governing Conservative Party is scrambling frantically to deal with the fact it completely misjudged the importance of environmental issues to Canadians.

Its leaders now have to try make it look as though they give a damn and as part of the effort, prime minister Stephen Harper, "moved forcefully to remove the environmental halo" from the head of Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, as The Globe & Mail puts it.

Harper has chosen to achieve this by running negative commercials. But, there's speculation that, "the latest round of Conservative attack ads may violate someone's copyright," says Dr Michael Geist, Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, going on:

The ads, which show brief clips from a Liberal debate last year, apparently were filmed by a consortium of broadcasters who say that they did not provide the Conservatives with permission to use the clips. If permission was not obtained, the party might seek to rely on the fair dealing user right, arguing that the brief clip is being used for criticism purposes.

While that is a plausible argument, the incident highlights yet again why Canada needs fair use.

Regardless of your political persuasion, everyone - whether political party, conventional media, or blogger - ought to have the right to comment in creative ways about their political views and leaders without the need to seek permission from a broadcast consortium.

Update: Bob Tarantino assesses the state of the law and concludes that relying on fair dealing "doesn't look good for the Conservatives."

Interestingly, with Harper's efforts to look good on environmental issues in mind, Johanne Gelinas, "Canada's crusading federal environmental commissioner has lost her job months after sharply criticizing the government and calling for a 'massive scale-up' of its environmental efforts," says The Record.

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser, "is said to have felt that Gelinas was out of line because she became more an advocate for the environment than an auditor of government actions," says the story, going on:

"Aides to Fraser refused to clarify last night whether Gelinas was fired. But Gelinas issued a statement last night making it clear she was pushed out the door, saying she was considering leaving but that Fraser's announcement 'was premature and came as a complete surprise to me'."

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Also See:
The Globe & Mail - Attack ads risk blighting Tories' green strategy, January 30, 2007
The Record - Auditor general fires green activist, January 30, 2007