'I Never Thought I'd Vote PC' video creates Twitter stir

A video circulating on Twitter has caused a stir in the online worldas the Alberta election campaign draws closer to the vote on April 23.

Called "I Never Thought I'd Vote PC," theroughly two-minute YouTubevideowas put together by a group who is asking young Albertans to vote strategically.

"We are a group of young Albertans ...who are concerned of what our province will look like under a Wildrose government," the group said in a statement."We got the money for this project from our friends and family, who only knew that we were trying to get young Albertans engaged to vote in this election."

With the latest polls suggesting the Wildrose Partycould topplethe 41-year-old Progressive Conservative dynasty, they saythey would rather vote for the PCs to stop the new right-wing partyfrom taking power.

While they expressdisbelief at the prospect of voting for the Tories, who aredescribed in the video as the "gun-toting" old guard, they say they are scared of the alternative.

"If you are in a contested riding where the showdown is between Wildrose and PC, vote strategically and vote PC," the video says.

Immediate backlash

But the backlash from the Twitter-verse has been swift.

"This 'I Never Thought I'd Vote PC,' anti-#WRP video is incredibly offensive. Who's behind it?" tweeted Diamond Isinger.

Others said it must have been funded by the PC party itself, or that the group waspart of an organization against Prime Minister Stephen Harperwho isreferenced as beingthe Wildrose's BFF (best friend forever).

"We got this project together in 48 hours, so we were not prepared for the media storm this created," said the group."We were hoping to create a video that would speak to our peersyoung and liberal Albertans who were not going to vote because they could not stomach the thought of voting PC."

They also said they didn't mean to offend anyone.

"This was a tongue in cheek satire," they said. "We must stress, we are not affiliated with any partynot funded by or organized byany party. We are simply young people who have a strong opinion."

They say theirwebsite and video speaks for itself.

But it hasn't stopped some calling for an Elections Alberta investigation into third-party advertising.

"Will Elections Alberta investigate #ineverthoughtIwouldvotePC? Looks like third party ad to me. How is this different from AMA ad?" tweeted well-known political scientist Duane Bratt from Mount Royal University, referring to recent newspaper ads from the Alberta Medical Associaton that prompted a warning from Elections Alberta.