Stephen Harper has released a short video online in which he says that he is opposed to a “Netflix tax.”
The 54-second clip, filmed with the Netflix logo in the background, starts off with the Conservative leader saying he “loves movies and TV shows” and that one of his “all-time favourites” is “Breaking Bad.”
Harper goes on to say that “some politicians want to tax digital streaming services like Netflix and YouTube.”
“Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair have left the door wide open to doing just that,” he adds, referring to the Liberal and NDP leaders.
“Only our Conservative Party can be trusted to focus on the needs of Canadian consumers and to keep your taxes low,” Harper concludes.
Liberal spokesperson Cameron Ahmad called the video a distraction and said that “any suggestion that the Liberal Party supports a Netflix tax is nonsense.”
I love movies and TV shows. I'm 100% against a #Netflix tax. Always have been, always will be #NoNetflixTax #elxn42 https://t.co/oUYgTkXH3q
— Stephen Harper (@pmharper) August 5, 2015
The new video isn’t the first time the Conservatives have accused the opposition of being open to a tax on a popular consumer product.
A 2011 attack ad accused the Liberals of planning a $75 "iPod tax" that would apply to smartphones, PVRs, MP3 players and "just about anything with a hard drive."
That came after the Liberals and NDP voted in favour of a House of Commons committee report that recommended expanding fees collected on behalf of recording artists, from blank CDs and tapes, to devices with internal memories.
The Liberals’ Marc Garneau later said that his party did not support such an iPod levy, calling it “not sustainable in a world of changing technology."
Although many may not know that Harper is a TV fan, he made cameo in the show Murdoch Mysteries in 2011, shortly before it was cancelled.