Part of marketing film produced by Canada to promote part of the country has turned out to have been shot in an English coastal town.
The video was included in a package commissioned by the tourist board in Alberta to help promote and boast visitor numbers. It was intended to show the best features of the Alberta province in Canada and increase levels of Canada holidays in the region. However, when a Canadian man called Peter Bailey saw the film and tried to track down the location to do a bit of sailing, it soon dawned on him that he would have a problem. He initially believed he was seeing images of one of the regions huge lakes but when he looked a little deeper, it turned out to be the North Sea. Confident that the middle of Alberta was at least 300 miles from the Pacific Ocean and 450 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, Bailey thought he should let the relevant people know.
The tourist board in Northumberland couldn’t help but see the funny side of the incident when they found out. ” we think its rather funny – Canada trying to sell its landlocked provinces as coastal resorts” stated Sheelagh Caygill. A large proportion of the people of Northumberland were said the be honoured rather than being put out. saying that for Canada to use their scenes in their own video must mean they are really good.
A rather more defensive response was given by Ottawa government when Bailey announced his findings to them. It was used by us simply to “symbolise the fact Albertans are a worldly people” stated a spokesman.Tom Olson who looks after media relations for the Prime Minister suggested “There’s no attempt to mislead here. The picture used just fitted the mood and tone of what we were trying to do.”
Instead of taking the segment of the film out, statements suggest that the production will now include a thank you note to the Northumberland Tourist board. It is safe to say that all involved are a little embarrassed about the situation but hope that it should blow over soon. Among other promotional sets that Canada has recently released include one detailing Alaskan cruises and there will surely be people keeping an keen eye out for passing flamingos in the Alaskan cruises film