Is the new passport erasing Canada’s history? What’s behind the controversy 

Some opposition MPs have argued the new designs erase Canada’s history by removing designs of notable figures and images that have graced the passports for decades.

The government hit delete on Terry Fox.

That’s 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 Justin Trudeau’s “colouring book” 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’s other recent videos.

“This is troll politics,” said Jason Hannon, an associate professor at the University of Winnipeg in the department of rhetoric, writing and communications.

“It’s not like Canadian identity has ever hinged on passport design. It’s not like Canadians ever went to bed at night thinking happy thoughts about passports. It’s an utterly fabricated issue.”

The Liberals aren’t the first to “delete” 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.

“The reality is that all governments do these things and shape countries in their own image whenever they can,” he said.

“The 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.”