Maxis 4G Films and Ensemble Worldwide, IPG Mediabrand’s creative agency, have launched a short film about long-lost siblings who search for each other with the help of technology and live videos.
Inspired by true stories, the film titled “The 50-year Promise” hopes to encourage Malaysians to reconnect, reunite and capture lost years with family and friends this Chinese New Year (CNY), no matter how far apart or how long they’ve not seen each other, by using the Internet.
“Facebook tells us people spend three more time watching live videos versus non-live ones. We hope this CNY film shows the power of live video in a fresh and very human way,” said Sulin Lau, Maxis’ head of marketing services.
“Technology platforms like live videos empower everyone, regardless of age. The internet isn’t just a place for millennials, it can create powerful experiences for everybody, ” said Lau.
“The story is one that a lot of Malaysians can relate to. Many families have stories of separation of their own. We wanted to explore these themes and how technology can help Malaysians write a new narrative, heal old wounds, and bring families closer,” said Chan Woei Hern, executive creative director of Ensemble.
Spongecell, the leader in programmatic creative technology, has announced today that it has released a new HTML5-based video format that will facilitate advertisers embracing personalized, data-driven interactive video messaging on a cross-device basis.
“With the major Web browsers on a march to phase out Flash-based video by mid-2017, it is imperative that both brand marketers and publishers get ahead of this trend and equip themselves with the latest HTML5-based technology,” said Ben Kartzman, Spongecell CEO. “We are excited to announce that Spongecell is taking a leadership role in this transition with the release of our new HTML5-based video format.”
The new format offers the following features:
Data-driven video This video ad format allows advertisers to reach their consumers with relevant messaging and video content informed by 1st and 3rd party data or any turnkey data including geo, weather, date and time of day.
Shoppable product carousels Advertisers can dynamically pull in their product catalogs to feature a range of product recommendations including products trending in their markets or to retarget their consumers with previously viewed products.
Visibility into ad interactions Unlike VAST in-stream which runs cross-device but only tracks click-throughs, HTML5 in-stream offers granular tracking of campaign success metrics including engagement rate, time spent, and feature interactions.
Build with our self-service platform Advertisers can effortlessly build, target and traffic their HTML5 in-stream units today using Spongecell’s dynamic ad studio and our powerful decision engine.
As part of the rollout of the Spongecell HTML5 video format, the company will be hosting a webinar on January 11 on how to use the Spongecell platform to build, target and traffic HTML5 video: labs.spongecell.com
About Spongecell
Spongecell (www.spongecell.com) is an award-winning advertising technology company that makes it easier to transform standard ads into dynamic, interactive digital ad experiences that run anywhere. Using data to drive advertising creative, Spongecell’s technology helps brands, creative and media agencies create more meaningful consumer engagement, without sacrificing speed. Spongecell works with some of the biggest companies in the world to drive their digital advertising campaigns and bring more interactive and engaging ad experiences to potential customers. An independent, privately owned company, Spongecell is headquartered in New York City and has offices across the United States and Europe. For more information, visit www.spongecell.com.
2016 was a good year for video marketing. 2017 will be extraordinary.
Marketers know that video has become critical throughout the buying cycle, and sales teams are catching on as well. Brands are no longer asking whether video is a worthwhile investment; the days of « why video? » have given way to the who, what, when, where and how.
Over 90% of marketers say video content is important, and they’re doing something about it: More than two-thirds of participants in plan to increase their budgets for video content creation, a Vidyard’s State of Video Marketing study found.
We aren’t the only ones confident in video’s rising popularity and importance. « We’re entering this new golden age of video, » Mark Zuckerberg told BuzzFeed News in April 2016, adding that he « wouldn’t be surprised if you fast-forward five years and most of the content that people see on Facebook and are sharing on a day-to-day basis is video. »
His fellow innovators and thought leaders agree (though not all). In his keynote at INBOUND 2016, HubSpot co-founder and CEO Brian Halligan described the current combination of social and video as the perfect marriage— »scallops and bacon, » to be precise—and opined that half of the content that marketing teams are producing in 2017 should be video.
It’s clear: Both for content providers and for content consumers, this is no passing trend.
In 2017, three major shifts in how we create, promote, and measure video content will bring about the tipping point that changes the game and puts us squarely on track for Zuckerberg’s « golden age of video. »
1. From Passive to Interactive
Watching a video has been a passive process. Whether you’re on your couch in front of Netflix or at your computer researching software, you click play, sit there, get bored, mess around on your phone, wait for the video to be over, and you walk away with a few nuggets of entertainment or information.
No more. In the same way that social media has revolutionized how we engage with brands, video is shifting from a passive to interactive experience. The process began with clickable URLs and annotations— »Visit www.whatever.com for more info » at the end of the clip—but it’s quickly becoming integrated into the entire viewing experience.
We can now add embedded surveys, quizzes, and links to keep viewers engaged throughout the video while also providing additional content to retain their focus. We can respond to user actions, create 360 degree videos, and provide other immersive experiences, all of which bring the viewer further into the story and more invested in its outcome.
The same trend applies on the back end as well. We used to track videos with passive and relatively meaningless metrics, such as impressions and views. More interactive experiences mean that we can now track more insightful measures and provide more meaningful analytics.
The use of intermediate or advanced video analytics for understanding content performance increased significantly from 2015 to 2016, with 35% of marketers now using more sophisticated techniques. I expect that number to jump in 2017 as businesses invest more in video content across their business, and they become more aware of how well analytics can convey viewers’ precise levels of interest and engagement in their content.
2. From Mass Audience to Hyper-Personalization
Video is still predominantly a one-size-fits-all proposition. Marketers create explainers and demos that show anyone and everyone how their products work. That’s great, showing is almost always better than telling. But it doesn’t address the myriad of buyer personas typically involved in the buying process, especially in more complex sales cycles.
Mature video marketing programs address this issue by defining their personas and catering video content to their particular needs. A CMO, for instance, will want a much different take on a product (and will have much less time to devote) than someone at an operational level.
A targeted, persona-based video strategy requires more content, but it delivers more bang for your buck.
2017 will bring the next stage of the personalization trend, and it’s less a step forward than a giant leap: Forget personas… we can now customize videos on the fly for individual people or companies and do it at scale.
Video marketing technology now allows marketers and sales reps to personalize video content for recipients in a way that stands out, draws them into the story, and boosts their engagement in the content experience.
Early adopters are seeing extraordinary success with video personalization. Influitive, for example, recorded eight-fold improvement on clickthrough rates with a personalized video versus standard outbound email campaigns. For Reltio, open rates went up ten-fold. And 70% of prospective students who received a personalized video email from the University of Waterloo opened the message—a 1,000% increase over the school’s average.
Such stats aren’t flukes, and marketers are taking notice. As the results keep coming in and the technology becomes more accessible, personalized video will be all over inboxes in 2017.
3. From Outsourced to In-House
Among the biggest challenges businesses are still struggling with are the cost and resources associated with video production—largely because most video content is outsourced. In 2017, we’ll see big investments in in-house video production to complement bigger-budget agency productions.
As HubSpot’s Halligan mentioned in the keynote I quoted earlier, today’s buyers want short, easily consumed, informal content. Attention spans are short. Cynicism is high. Consumers want videos that feel as if they were created by real people, and they want more of them.
All of which is good news for businesses. Technology now makes it infinitely easier to create in-house videos that meet those new criteria. Your sales team can create one-on-one videos to send to prospects that address their specific needs. Field marketing can shoot video invitations that capture the spirit of your event. HR can build video training modules, Support can show how to solve FAQ, internal communications teams can record executive presentations.
When you liberate video from its « professional » shackles, it becomes a tool not just for marketing but for the entire enterprise—and dramatically increases its ROI in the process.
Bringing video in-house applies not just to creation but publication as well. In 2017, companies will complement their YouTube channels with custom-branded video hubs on their own public sites as well as internally, within their businesses.
Hosting videos in-house allows for more control throughout the process, from how they are presented to the interactive features and analytics mentioned earlier, to integrations with tools such as marketing automation and CRM. It provides your brand with more ways to stand apart from an increasingly crowded market to capture the attention and engagement of your target audience.
The result? Video will play an increasingly important role at all stages of the buying journey, far beyond its current perceived confines of awareness and brand equity.
* * *
In 2016, businesses expanded their focus on video and begin to dip their toes in more advanced techniques. In 2017, that experimentation will bear fruit. Video will emerge from its passive, generic YouTube experience to become a dynamic, personal experience primed to make a serious impact on business results.
In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Kate Volman meets with Emmy Award-winning producer Amber Tollefson to discuss video marketing.
Content is king and video is queen, says Tollefson. People want content daily, and video is one of the best ways to provide them with useful and engaging information. Although, sometimes it can be hard to make the time. But, rather than overwhelming yourself, simplify the process and use tools.
To start, you don’t need a fancy camera, lighting and a microphone — you can use your smartphone. Over time, you an begin upgrading something, but the first step is to simply get started. Tollefson recommends smartphone tools to help amplify your phone’s camera, and she also recommends using the website Animoto.com for an easy-to-use editing website.
In the end though, just have fun, be authentic, and go out there and share your story.
Entrepreneur Networkis a premium video network providing entertainment, education and inspiration from successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders. We provide expertise and opportunities to accelerate brand growth and effectively monetize video and audio content distributed across all digital platforms for the business genre.
Is Netflix moving into the video game market? Probably not in a major way, but they have released their first original video game.
The game itself is pretty basic. Titled “Netflix Infinite Runner,” it’s a side scrolling game with retro graphics and music where there’s no real end. You just run and jump (pressing the space bar) for as long as you can, racking up points along the way. What makes it unique though is that the characters, backgrounds, and theme music are all from original Netflix shows.
Four options are available: Mike Wheeler from Stranger Things running through his neighborhood (and eventually Hawkins National Laboratory), Pablo Escobar from Narcos jumping through Columbia, Piper Chapman from Orange is the New Black fleeing prison guards, and Marco Polo from the now cancelled Marco Polo.
It’s tough to imagine that Netflix could begin really devoting time towards video game development, but it’s certainly not out of the question completely. They have some great shows and characters to work with, not to mention their Marvel licensing. At any rate, the game is fun if only to see your favorite characters and hear your favorite theme songs given the retro treatment.
If you have a few minutes to spare and want to try the game out, head here.
Spongecell, the leader in programmatic creative technology, has announced today that it has released a new HTML5-based video format that will facilitate advertisers embracing personalized, data-driven interactive video messaging on a cross-device basis.
“With the major Web browsers on a march to phase out Flash-based video by mid-2017, it is imperative that both brand marketers and publishers get ahead of this trend and equip themselves with the latest HTML5-based technology,” said Ben Kartzman, Spongecell CEO. “We are excited to announce that Spongecell is taking a leadership role in this transition with the release of our new HTML5-based video format.”
The new format offers the following features:
Data-driven video This video ad format allows advertisers to reach their consumers with relevant messaging and video content informed by 1st and 3rd party data or any turnkey data including geo, weather, date and time of day.
Shoppable product carousels Advertisers can dynamically pull in their product catalogs to feature a range of product recommendations including products trending in their markets or to retarget their consumers with previously viewed products.
Visibility into ad interactions Unlike VAST in-stream which runs cross-device but only tracks click-throughs, HTML5 in-stream offers granular tracking of campaign success metrics including engagement rate, time spent, and feature interactions.
Build with our self-service platform Advertisers can effortlessly build, target and traffic their HTML5 in-stream units today using Spongecell’s dynamic ad studio and our powerful decision engine.
As part of the rollout of the Spongecell HTML5 video format, the company will be hosting a webinar on January 11 on how to use the Spongecell platform to build, target and traffic HTML5 video: labs.spongecell.com
About Spongecell
Spongecell (www.spongecell.com) is an award-winning advertising technology company that makes it easier to transform standard ads into dynamic, interactive digital ad experiences that run anywhere. Using data to drive advertising creative, Spongecell’s technology helps brands, creative and media agencies create more meaningful consumer engagement, without sacrificing speed. Spongecell works with some of the biggest companies in the world to drive their digital advertising campaigns and bring more interactive and engaging ad experiences to potential customers. An independent, privately owned company, Spongecell is headquartered in New York City and has offices across the United States and Europe. For more information, visit www.spongecell.com.
2016 was a good year for video marketing. 2017 will be extraordinary.
Marketers know that video has become critical throughout the buying cycle, and sales teams are catching on as well. Brands are no longer asking whether video is a worthwhile investment; the days of « why video? » have given way to the who, what, when, where and how.
Over 90% of marketers say video content is important, and they’re doing something about it: More than two-thirds of participants in plan to increase their budgets for video content creation, a Vidyard’s State of Video Marketing study found.
We aren’t the only ones confident in video’s rising popularity and importance. « We’re entering this new golden age of video, » Mark Zuckerberg told BuzzFeed News in April 2016, adding that he « wouldn’t be surprised if you fast-forward five years and most of the content that people see on Facebook and are sharing on a day-to-day basis is video. »
His fellow innovators and thought leaders agree (though not all). In his keynote at INBOUND 2016, HubSpot co-founder and CEO Brian Halligan described the current combination of social and video as the perfect marriage— »scallops and bacon, » to be precise—and opined that half of the content that marketing teams are producing in 2017 should be video.
It’s clear: Both for content providers and for content consumers, this is no passing trend.
In 2017, three major shifts in how we create, promote, and measure video content will bring about the tipping point that changes the game and puts us squarely on track for Zuckerberg’s « golden age of video. »
1. From Passive to Interactive
Watching a video has been a passive process. Whether you’re on your couch in front of Netflix or at your computer researching software, you click play, sit there, get bored, mess around on your phone, wait for the video to be over, and you walk away with a few nuggets of entertainment or information.
No more. In the same way that social media has revolutionized how we engage with brands, video is shifting from a passive to interactive experience. The process began with clickable URLs and annotations— »Visit www.whatever.com for more info » at the end of the clip—but it’s quickly becoming integrated into the entire viewing experience.
We can now add embedded surveys, quizzes, and links to keep viewers engaged throughout the video while also providing additional content to retain their focus. We can respond to user actions, create 360 degree videos, and provide other immersive experiences, all of which bring the viewer further into the story and more invested in its outcome.
The same trend applies on the back end as well. We used to track videos with passive and relatively meaningless metrics, such as impressions and views. More interactive experiences mean that we can now track more insightful measures and provide more meaningful analytics.
The use of intermediate or advanced video analytics for understanding content performance increased significantly from 2015 to 2016, with 35% of marketers now using more sophisticated techniques. I expect that number to jump in 2017 as businesses invest more in video content across their business, and they become more aware of how well analytics can convey viewers’ precise levels of interest and engagement in their content.
2. From Mass Audience to Hyper-Personalization
Video is still predominantly a one-size-fits-all proposition. Marketers create explainers and demos that show anyone and everyone how their products work. That’s great, showing is almost always better than telling. But it doesn’t address the myriad of buyer personas typically involved in the buying process, especially in more complex sales cycles.
Mature video marketing programs address this issue by defining their personas and catering video content to their particular needs. A CMO, for instance, will want a much different take on a product (and will have much less time to devote) than someone at an operational level.
A targeted, persona-based video strategy requires more content, but it delivers more bang for your buck.
2017 will bring the next stage of the personalization trend, and it’s less a step forward than a giant leap: Forget personas… we can now customize videos on the fly for individual people or companies and do it at scale.
Video marketing technology now allows marketers and sales reps to personalize video content for recipients in a way that stands out, draws them into the story, and boosts their engagement in the content experience.
Early adopters are seeing extraordinary success with video personalization. Influitive, for example, recorded eight-fold improvement on clickthrough rates with a personalized video versus standard outbound email campaigns. For Reltio, open rates went up ten-fold. And 70% of prospective students who received a personalized video email from the University of Waterloo opened the message—a 1,000% increase over the school’s average.
Such stats aren’t flukes, and marketers are taking notice. As the results keep coming in and the technology becomes more accessible, personalized video will be all over inboxes in 2017.
3. From Outsourced to In-House
Among the biggest challenges businesses are still struggling with are the cost and resources associated with video production—largely because most video content is outsourced. In 2017, we’ll see big investments in in-house video production to complement bigger-budget agency productions.
As HubSpot’s Halligan mentioned in the keynote I quoted earlier, today’s buyers want short, easily consumed, informal content. Attention spans are short. Cynicism is high. Consumers want videos that feel as if they were created by real people, and they want more of them.
All of which is good news for businesses. Technology now makes it infinitely easier to create in-house videos that meet those new criteria. Your sales team can create one-on-one videos to send to prospects that address their specific needs. Field marketing can shoot video invitations that capture the spirit of your event. HR can build video training modules, Support can show how to solve FAQ, internal communications teams can record executive presentations.
When you liberate video from its « professional » shackles, it becomes a tool not just for marketing but for the entire enterprise—and dramatically increases its ROI in the process.
Bringing video in-house applies not just to creation but publication as well. In 2017, companies will complement their YouTube channels with custom-branded video hubs on their own public sites as well as internally, within their businesses.
Hosting videos in-house allows for more control throughout the process, from how they are presented to the interactive features and analytics mentioned earlier, to integrations with tools such as marketing automation and CRM. It provides your brand with more ways to stand apart from an increasingly crowded market to capture the attention and engagement of your target audience.
The result? Video will play an increasingly important role at all stages of the buying journey, far beyond its current perceived confines of awareness and brand equity.
* * *
In 2016, businesses expanded their focus on video and begin to dip their toes in more advanced techniques. In 2017, that experimentation will bear fruit. Video will emerge from its passive, generic YouTube experience to become a dynamic, personal experience primed to make a serious impact on business results.
Pendant une quarantaine de minutes, Barack Obama est revenu sur le bilan de ses huit années à la présidence, mais il a surtout fait un plaidoyer pour la démocratie ainsi que le pouvoir du citoyen et ses devoirs, soit les principes mêmes qui s’inscrivent dans la constitution américaine.
Notre constitution est d’une grande beauté, un grand cadeau, mais c’est un parchemin. Nous, le peuple, lui conférons du sens.
« Tous les jours, j’ai appris de vous et vous avez fait de moi une meilleure personne », a-t-il dit devant des milliers de partisans aussi enthousiastes qu’au cœur des campagnes présidentielles.
En revenant sur quelques faits d’armes, comme sa réforme de l’assurance maladie, le rapprochement avec Cuba, le contrôle du programme nucléaire iranien, l’accord de Paris sur l’environnement et la mort d’Oussama ben Laden, Barack Obama a lancé une boutade en disant que les gens lui auraient dit qu’il était trop ambitieux s’il leur avait dit, il y a huit ans, qu’il accomplirait tout cela dans ses mandats.
« Mais c’est vous qui l’avez fait. L’Amérique est un endroit plus fort que ce que nous avions devant nous il y a huit ans », a-t-il ajouté.
Le président n’a pas manqué de lancer un appel à la vigilance aux citoyens à 10 jours de la présidence de Donald Trump, affirmant qu’il n’y a pas de solutions magiques aux défis économiques représentés par les changements technologiques.
« La démocratie peut être faussée si elle cède à la peur », a dit le président en parlant de l’immigration. « Nous devons nous rappeler que les premiers Américains croyaient que les vagues d’immigrants irlandais, polonais et italiens allaient détruire le caractère fondamental de l’Amérique. L’histoire nous a montré que ces immigrants ont embrassé les valeurs du pays et l’ont rendu plus fort. »
Dans cette foulée, il a aussi lancé qu’il rejetait la discrimination à l’égard des musulmans américains.
Il a aussi appelé les citoyens à se méfier des « bulles » créées par les réseaux sociaux, où chacun trouve écho à son opinion et peut s’y conforter.
« On devient complaisant dans ces bulles. On conforte notre opinion plutôt que de regarder les faits. On ne se fie plus sur des faits, on croit ce que l’on veut croire et c’est dangereux pour notre démocratie », a-t-il dit dans un commentaire à peine voilé sur les techniques de communication du président désigné Donald Trump, grand amateur du réseau Twitter.
Barack Obama a lancé un appel à l’engagement du citoyen. Il a invité les Américains déçus à écrire une pétition, à être présents, à plonger.
Après avoir remercié avec grande émotion son épouse Michelle, ses filles, son vice-président Joe Biden et son équipe de travail, le président sortant a demandé une dernière chose à ses concitoyens.
Je vous demande de croire en votre capacité de faire le changement. Oui nous le pouvons, oui nous l’avons fait, oui nous pouvons le faire.
Rien n’a été encore confirmé quant aux nouvelles fonctions qui auraient été proposées à Stéphane Dion, dont celle d’ambassadeur en Europe. M. Dion est en réflexion.
Il cède donc sa place à Mme Freeland, cette ex-journaliste économique qui occupait jusqu’ici le poste de ministre du Commerce international. Un poste dans lequel elle s’était illustrée en jouant un rôle-clé pour sauver l’accord de libre-échange avec l’Union européenne.
À moins de deux semaines de l’entrée en scène de Donald Trump à la tête des États-Unis, il est plus que jamais crucial, pour le Canada, d’avoir des interlocuteurs de choix dans la capitale américaine. C’est dans cette optique que Justin Trudeau place Chrystia Freeland aux Affaires étrangères.
En effet, Mme Freeland est experte des dossiers touchant la Russie « et parle le russe couramment », a précisé le premier ministre Trudeau en conférence de presse, mardi. Un atout considérant qu’aux États-Unis, le président désigné Donald Trump veut amorcer une nouvelle ère avec Moscou.
Cependant, Chrystia Freeland est interdite de séjour depuis 2014 en Russie, des représailles qu’a exercées Moscou après qu’Ottawa eut sanctionné des dignitaires russes, dans la foulée des agressions contre l’Ukraine et la Crimée. La nouvelle ministre canadienne des Affaires étrangères affirme qu’il revient à Moscou de traiter cet enjeu.
Au coeur des pourparlers sur le bois d’oeuvre
Mme Freeland conserve de plus les dossiers commerciaux relatifs aux États-Unis, un enjeu d’autant plus considérable qu’un nouveau litige pointe en ce qui a trait au bois d’oeuvre.
Aux yeux du premier ministre Trudeau, il s’imposait de confier à Mme Freeland des responsabilités tant en matière de diplomatie que de commerce. Car il importe d’« avoir une voix » face au président désigné Donald Trump dont les priorités fondamentales sont « le commerce et la croissance économique », d’expliquer M. Trudeau.
François-Philippe Champagne, un « ministre junior »?
Mais du fait que sa prédécesseure, Christia Freeland, conserve tous les dossiers commerciaux canado-américains, une journaliste a demandé – en tout respect – à Justin Trudeau si cela ne faisait pas de M. Champagne « un ministre junior ».
« Au contraire », a répliqué le premier ministre, citant les « énormes défis » qui attendent le député de Saint-Maurice-Champlain. Parmi ces défils, il lui faudra surmonter les derniers obstacles à la ratification de l’accord de libre-échange entre le Canada et l’Union européenne, ou encore accroître les occasions d’affaires pour les entreprises canadiennes avec la Chine et les pays membres du Partenariat transpacifique (PTP).
Sachant que le Canada semble être, ces jours-ci, l’un des rares pays à être en faveur du libre-échange […], François-Philippe [Champagne] aura quantité de travail à faire dans le monde entier, dans les mois à venir.
« La planète est très grande, Mme Freeland aura le leadership là-dessus […] et je vais continuer à l’appuyer […] pour faire du Canada dans le monde le meilleur endroit où investir », a déclaré pour sa part François-Philippe Champagne en entrevue, en fin d’après-midi, à ICI RDI.
De gauche à droite, la ministre des Affaires étrangères Chrystia Freeland, la ministre du Travail Patty Hajdu, la ministre de la Condition féminine Maryam Monsef, le ministre du Commerce international François-Philippe Champagne, la ministre des Institutions démocratiques Karina Gould et le ministre de l’Immigration, des Réfugiés et de la Citoyenneté, Ahmed Hussen. Photo : La Presse canadienne/Adrian Wyld
La ministre Maryam Monsef se voit retirer le portefeuille des Institutions démocratiques et attribuer celui de la Condition féminine. Elle a fait l’objet de critiques pour sa gestion du dossier du mode de scrutin au Canada, et son remplacement par Karina Gould envoie le signal qu’une réforme est toujours possible.
Un poste d’ambassadeur pour le vétéran John McCallum
John McCallum. Photo : La Presse canadienne/Adrian Wyld
La candidature de John McCallum sera proposée à titre d’ambassadeur en Chine.
Natif de Montréal, il a été vice-président principal et économiste en chef de la Banque Royale du Canada. Il a enseigné l’économie à l’Université du Manitoba (de 1976 à 1978), à l’Université Simon Fraser (de 1978 à 1982), à l’Université du Québec à Montréal (de 1982 à 1987), et à l’Université McGill (de 1987 à 1994).
Il est député de Markham-Thornhill (précédemment Markham-Unionville et Markham) depuis 2000, et a été réélu cinq fois.
Comme ministre, il a notamment été responsable des portefeuilles de la Défense nationale, des Anciens Combattants et du Revenu national entre 2001 et 2004. Depuis novembre 2015, il était ministre de l’Immigration, des Réfugiés et de la Citoyenneté.
Gérard Deltell, député conservateur de Louis-Saint-Laurent, estime que le remaniement de ce mardi est une preuve du manque de jugement du premier ministre, qui procède à d’importants changements dans son équipe 14 mois après son élection.
Il déplore aussi la façon avec laquelle Stéphane Dion a été remercié.
Une triste sortie, pas digne d’une personne [Stéphane Dion] qui a si bien rempli ses fonctions. La façon dont M. Trudeau l’a traité, ça démontre, malheureusement encore une fois, un manque de jugement de M. Trudeau.
Le député néo-démocrate Alexandre Boulerice voit dans ce mouvement une tentative des libéraux de tourner la page des « scandales des soirées de financement avec des millionnaires ».
Il soutient aussi que Justin Trudeau « se ramasse avec une crise politique » avec le départ des ministres Stéphane Dion et John McCallum. « Ce sont deux ministres séniors, des poids lourds du Cabinet libéral qui claquent la porte et qui s’en vont ».
Il se dit aussi préoccupé que Chrystia Freeland cumule les Affaires étrangères et les relations commerciales avec les États-Unis. « Je trouve ça très inquiétant de voir maintenant qu’on associe la diplomatie canadienne avec le commerce, le libre-échange avec les États-Unis », observe M. Boulerice.
Le député néo-démocrate regrette que la diplomatie canadienne n’ait plus un environnementaliste comme porte-parole.
Là, on a M. Trump qui arrive au pouvoir et la réaction du gouvernement Trudeau, c’est de tasser un environnementaliste qui pouvait parler aux Américains, pour mettre quelqu’un qui va d’abord et avant tout parler de commerce. D’un point de vue de plan de développement durable, moi ça m’inquiète énormément.
Les chefs du renseignement américain ont informé Donald Trump la semaine dernière de l’existence d’informations compromettantes qui auraient été recueillies pendant des années par la Russie sur le milliardaire républicain, et rassemblées dans des notes confidentielles circulant à Washington.
« Fausses informations – une chasse aux sorcières totale! » a réagi le milliardaire sur Twitter, écrivant la totalité de son message en lettres capitales.
La chaîne CNN et d’autres médias ont rapporté mardi l’existence d’un document de 35 pages, composé d’une série de notes datées de juin à décembre 2016 et rédigées par un ancien agent du contre-espionnage britannique, jugé crédible par le renseignement américain, pour le compte d’opposants politiques à Donald Trump.
Selon ces médias, dont CNN et le New York Times, les chefs du renseignement américain ont présenté au président élu un résumé de deux pages de ces 35 pages, en même temps qu’ils lui détaillaient leur rapport, partiellement déclassifié vendredi, récapitulant l’ensemble des opérations russes de piratage informatique et de désinformation aux États-Unis.
Le fait que ce résumé ait été présenté à Donald Trump, Barack Obama et plusieurs responsables du Congrès souligne l’importance accordée à ces documents par les chefs espions.
Les 35 pages ont été publiées mardi par le site d’information BuzzFeed, qui a cependant précisé qu’il n’était pas en mesure de les authentifier. Leur contenu n’a pas plus été certifié par des sources officielles. Les notes, qui circulaient parmi les milieux politiques et médiatiques à Washington depuis plusieurs semaines, détaillent notamment:
des informations présentées comme compromettantes sur la vie personnelle de Donald Trump, comme l’existence supposée de vidéos sexuelles tournées lors d’une visite à Moscou en 2013, et obtenues par les services russes dans le but d’en faire un moyen de chantage;
des informations sur les liens de plusieurs années entre Donald Trump, ses proches et le Kremlin.
Ces informations ont provoqué le trouble à Washington, et notamment au Congrès.
« Si ces allégations d’une coordination entre la campagne de Trump et des agents russes sont avérées, et les allégations selon lesquelles les Russes ont compromis l’indépendance du président élu Trump, ce serait vraiment choquant. Ce serait explosif », a réagi sur CNN le sénateur démocrate Chris Coons.
« Si les informations sur les compromissions de Trump sont fausses, elles doivent être démenties, si elles sont vraies, il ne peut pas être président », a déclaré un élu démocrate, Jared Polis.
Ce document explique sans doute « la défense continuelle de Trump de la Russie et son adoration pour Poutine », a renchéri sur Twitter l’ex-candidat conservateur à la présidentielle et ancien agent de la CIA Evan McMullin.
Liens avec Moscou
L’existence de liens entre l’entourage de Donald Trump et le pouvoir russe avait déjà fait l’objet de rumeurs pendant la campagne électorale, notamment via le rôle trouble d’un conseiller républicain en politique étrangère proche des Russes, Carter Page.
L’ex-chef de file des sénateurs démocrates, Harry Reid, qui avait accès à des informations classées secrètes, s’en était publiquement alarmé à mots couverts auprès du directeur du FBI, James Comey, en août et en octobre.
« Il est maintenant clair que vous possédez des informations explosives sur les liens étroits et la coordination entre Donald Trump, ses proches conseillers et le gouvernement russe – une entité étrangère ouvertement hostile aux États-Unis, dont Donald Trump fait l’éloge à chaque occasion », a écrit M. Reid le 27 août, exigeant le lancement d’une enquête par le FBI.
Mardi, le directeur du FBI, interrogé au Congrès, n’a ni confirmé ni démenti l’existence d’une enquête.
En août dernier, Michael Morell, ancien directeur par intérim et directeur adjoint de la CIA de 2010 à 2013, et soutien d’Hillary Clinton, avait accusé Donald Trump d’être « un agent involontaire de la Fédération de Russie ».
Interrogée mardi, la Maison-Blanche n’a pas fait de commentaires.
Le consensus des services de renseignement américain est que Vladimir Poutine a ordonné une campagne d’influence aux États-Unis en piratant notamment des responsables démocrates afin de discréditer Hillary Clinton, envers qui il nourrirait une inimitié personnelle depuis qu’elle a été chef de la diplomatie américaine, et de doper les chances de Donald Trump.
Le successeur de Barack Obama, élu en novembre dernier, a fait campagne en prônant un rapprochement avec Moscou. Il a longtemps refusé d’accepter la conclusion de l’administration Obama sur l’ingérence russe.
Après avoir reçu le rapport des services, vendredi dernier, il a infléchi sa ligne, admettant publiquement que la Russie, parmi d’autres acteurs étatiques et privés, avait lancé des cyberattaques aux États-Unis, notamment contre le parti démocrate.
Le Kremlin réfute ces accusations d’interférence.
Ces développements devraient occuper une partie de la conférence de presse que Donald Trump doit tenir mercredi matin à New York, sa première depuis son élection.
