Canada has reared its head into the Republican presidential nomination race again, although completely unintentionally this time. A new campaign ad from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio actually begins with a morning in Canada, not a morning in the U.S.
Rubio’s “Morning In America” ad is supposed to recall President Ronald Reagan’s famous commercial. It starts out with a skyline that could be a city on either coast. Unfortunately for Rubio, that’s actually Vancouver. You can even spot a Canadian flag on the tugboat in the shot. The Vancouver Sun also noted that many of the city’s famous landmarks are also clearly visible.
The scene was shot by Vancouver videographer Guy Chavasse, reports CBC. He told the site that Rubio’s campaign probably paid around $80 to use the video.
A spokesman for Rubio’s campaign tried to laugh it off in a statement to BuzzFeed. “Ha! Nice catch by BuzzFeed — we hadn’t noticed that. We are not going to make Canada an issue in this election,” the spokesman said.
Of course, Canada has actually had a role in the campaign thanks to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was born there to an American mother. Donald Trump has questioned Cruz’s eligibility to run for the White House because of that.
Cruz has also had an ad problem. It was revealed that his latest ad included a former porn star. That ad has since been pulled.
It doesn’t look like Rubio plans to pull the “Morning In Canada” ... ahem, “Morning in America” ... ad, since it is still on his YouTube page.