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The Liberal Party of Canada has its first unofficial leadershipcontestant. David Bertschi is first out of the gate with a website , ads and a national call-out for volunteers. In a weekend email to parliamentary reporters, Matt Hopkins, actingdirector of communications for Bertschi's Exploratory Committee,urged journalists to check out Bertschi's Facebook page to view "two teaser ads in both official languages in preparationfor the release of his full leadership ads in the coming weeks." The ads are memorable. So memorable that many political junkieswill recall a similar ad from former Republican presidentialcandidate Tim Pawlenty. Both videos were produced by renownedCanadian-American political filmmaker Lucas Baiano, who alsoproduced ads for two other former U.S. presidential hopefuls,Hillary Clinton and John McCain. The Bertschi and Pawlenty videos have a similar look and feel with loads of patrioticimagery, quick edits and the kind of voice-over you hear in movietrailers. David Bertschi ad: Tim Pawlenty ad: They also share (at 33 seconds in the Pawlenty ad and 22 seconds inthe Bertschi video) the same photo of a blonde woman looking intothe camera. Hopkins says Bertschi hired Baiano for the rest of the exploratorycommittee's work. He says the filmmaker was in Toronto lastweekend, gathering even more candid photos and video of Bertschi ata meeting of the Ontario wing of the Liberal Party. Bertschi will undoubtedly need Baiano's skills to get him noticedin the upcoming contest. The long-time Ottawa lawyer doesn't have much public profileoutside his community. Last year he ran and lost for the Liberalsin Ottawa-Orleans. Hiring someone of Baiano's skill and reputation cannot be cheap.Hopkins, a student at the University of Western Ontario, says theexploratory committee has done some fundraising and accepteddonations for a possible campaign. "Bertschi has that spark that people are looking for. He doesn't dopolitics in that formulaic way of the past. He's something specialand people are starting to notice." The thing is, there isn't any official Liberal leadership raceunderway. The party's board of directors is set to meet at the beginning ofJune to set the guidelines for entry fees, the vote and expenses,which will include limits on how much contenders may spend. I asked Liberal Party spokesperson Sarah Bain what the party thinksof the Bertschi ads and fundraising. She replied that it doesn'treally have an opinion. "Elections Canada determines what point in time expenses becomereportable." For his part, Hopkins says he understands that expenses are deemedreportable once the candidate has officially declared him orherself as in the running. Diane Benson at Elections Canada says there's a little more to itthan that. She pointed to a special notice on the agency's websitethat reminds everyone who accepts any contributions or incursleadership expenses must register as contestants, even if theydecide they decide not to follow-though with a formal bid. "It is the acceptance of a contribution or the incurring of aleadership campaign expense that triggers the obligation toregister once the contest is called." In short, once someone accepts their first contribution, they're inthe race. So while Bertschi may be still considering his options, he'll haveto register as soon as the Liberals officially call the race,whether he decides to move forward or not. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Wifi Enabled Phone , Wifi Enabled Phone for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Wifi Enabled Phone Supplier.
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