Call it clever campaigning or an election gimmick, but either way, it’s a novel way of keeping up the battle online in a race that’s in a dead heat.
Canada’s major political parties are using every corner of the web in their quest to attack opponents and generate support. They’re even using custom Error 404 pages.
You may have come across such pages as you’re browsing the web. You type in a URL or click a link, but if you make a typo or the link doesn’t work, you get a special error page.
Almost all websites are configured to do this. For example, take a look at Google’s error page, which keeps things simple.
There’s a lot of white space, and text that reads “The requested URL /broken was not found on this server. That’s all we know.”
But the Conservative Party of Canada’s website adds a unique twist to what would otherwise be a boring 404 page.
It shows a big red sketch of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau beside the number 404..
Underneath, it reads: “Like Justin Trudeau, this page is … just not ready.”
The NDP is also fighting in the 404 war. Their website error page shows a washed out photo of Stephen Harper.
“Stephen Harper’s plan isn’t working. And neither will this link,” the page reads.
As for the Liberal Party of Canada? A broken link on their site generates a page that’s pretty neutral. And if you like geese with strings lifting a red moose, you’ll be especially pleased.
Neither the Green Party of Canada nor the Bloc Quebecois have fancy 404 pages.
