UPDATED -Added comment from Jennifer Wright – thanks to BigCityLib for the tip.
UPDATED -Added comment from Jennifer Wright – thanks to BigCityLib for the tip.
If you haven’t been following this story, this post is chock full o’ background info – and be sure to skim the comment thread too, including this exchange, in which I bring up the niggling question that eventually inspired me to put together this timeline. Reposted here, too, for the click-averse:
I’ll update this timeline with any new information that comes in on posts/comments/threads that predate the original post on Crux-of-the-Matter/Jack’s News Watch. Please feel free to send in any additional material, or post it in the comments.
Note: All times approximate except where noted; in the absence of accurate timestamps for original (ie unedited posts), the timestamp on the first comment has been used instead.
June 19
10:30 a.m.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion launches the Green Shift, including a new, dedicated website at http://www.thegreenshift.ca
11:19 am (note: possibly CST, not EST)
In a thread on the Liberal Green Shift on the eBrandon.ca message board, bcglorf posts the following:
Is there a website for the liberals proposal? greenshift.ca is a private company site and I couldn’t find anything about the new liberal proposal on it.
June 20
In a column entited “Carbon tax means pain, but also gain”, Globe and Mail Report on Business columnist Madelaine Drohan mentions Green Shift, Inc. – an “environmental consulting business” which, she suggests, could “benefit” from the Liberal plan due to increased traffic to their similarly-URLed website:
In the meantime, one Toronto environmental consulting business is probably already benefiting from the Liberal plan. Traffic on the website of Green Shift, located at www.greenshift.ca , has undoubtedly risen as a result of people looking for more details on Mr. Dion’s plan called The Green Shift, at www.thegreenshift.ca
Of the 44 comments on the post, not one mentions the possibility of confusion between the two domain names, although many are highly critical of the Liberal plan for other reasons.
June 23
10:55 am
Crux of the Matter blogger “Sandy” is the first blogger to raise the issue of a possible trademark infringement, in a crosspost to both her own blog, and Jack’s Newswatch. According to the timestamp on the first comment at JNW, that post appears before She credits the find to a “regular reader”, and includes a H/T to “Bert” on the crosspost.
11:37 am
in the comment thread at JNW, “Babylonian” claims to have “just” gotten off the phone with a “very professional … lady” :
I mentioned to her what I have been hearing, and asked her simply right away if they were affiliated with the Liberal party, she almost “knee-jerk” shot back by saying “NO”. She mentioned that they are dealing with them on the issue. Seems like a no issue to me, Liberals should “cease and dismantle” before this thing grows. I made it clear that I was an engineer who was interested in possobily doing business with them, which I am, but wanted to make sure they have no political affiliation. I honestly don’t care what party someone belongs to, but when your company starts supporting getting involved in some policitical plan, I don’t have the stomach for that………………THIS IS NOT THE CASE WITH THEM AT ALL. To be honest, she seemed annoyed with whole situation[.]
The comment also includes the phone number for Green Shift Inc.
2:08pm
Splatto of A Step to the Right links to the original post on Crux-of-the-matter, at approximately . He also claims to have called the company himself, independently, to inquire as to whether there was any relationship between the Liberal Party and a “private company.”
According to his post, the company already seems to be aware of the issue, and suggests that they have “lost both new business and existing clients since Thursday who have been frightened off at the perception of a relationship between them and the federal Liberal Party.”
It’s unclear whether his call was made before or after that from Babylonian, whose account of the conversation would suggest that he or she gave the company the impression that the potential link with the Liberals would cost at least one prospective client.
Splatto’s post also includes Green Shift Inc.’s contact information, including phone number, and encourages readers to call in to show “support” for the company.
2:47pm
Small Dead Animals picks up Splatto’s post.
3:12pm
Splatto’s post takes the top spot on National Newswatch.
Note: The timeline stops here, because in my experience, once a story — or a blog post – is given a prominent spot on NNW, it’s just a matter of time before the rest of the media outlets follow/match it. At that point, it belongs to the world.
ADDENDUM: Well, except for this, which seems relevant to the discussion:
June 24
2:57 am
Green Shift, Inc. proprietor Jennifer Wright posts a comment to Crux-of-the-Matter. In it, she defends the company’s decision to selectively take action against the Liberal Party for use of the phrase “green shift” while ignoring the “odd” use of the phrase in other contexts (including at least one that predates her claim to continual use):
Having Canadas Liberal Party use the term for what essentially amounts to an environmental program, as opposed to our environmental program, and dealing with thousands on misdirected garbage emails … including a bunch from people thinking that we should like it – ugghhh!!
Interestingly, she also posts an example of a “garbage email” that, as noted in the comments by BCL, appears to have been sent by an conservative American blogger of undefinable and possibly non-existent political persuasion (and, as such, not likely to be a defender of the Liberal Party, or its Green Shift) that was apparently sent after the story hit the news (and cannot, as such, be definitively linked to name confusion).