Tory Staffer Turfed after Iggy Photo Hoax

Patrick Muttart had been credited with helping the Conservatives win back-to-back minority governments before the photo flap.

A top Conservative campaign staffer has resigned from his position after Sun Media called him out for claiming Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was in a photo of U.S. soldiers in Kuwait shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Patrick Muttart, a key member of Conservative campaigns in 2006 and 2008, had sent the photo to Sun News Network's boss and to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's former spokesman, Kory Teneycke, as part of a package that the Tories said was proof that Ignatieff was deeply engaged in planning for the Iraq war. One soldier in the photo does bear a passing resemblance to the Liberal leader, albeit about 20 years younger. Pierre Karl Peladeau, who owns the Sun chain, wrote a fuming editorial when he found out about the attempt to dupe his staff, after which Muttart left the Tory campaign.