Has Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Jim Prentice's Website been hijacked by the De-Elect David Emerson campaign? That's the question some federal Conservatives were asking this morning, after noticing visitors to Minister Pentice's site - www.jimprentice.ca - were being re-directed to Web developer Mike Watkins's blog, which has been "calling for (International Trade Minister) David Emerson's resignation since Febuary 6th." So we phoned up Mr. Watkins and asked how he managed to accomplish this feat of electronic legerdemain. But it turns out his political cybersquatting was entirely accidental.

When we explained to him what was happening, Mr. Watkins exclaimed, "Oh. That's terrible. That's totally unintended. Jim's a friend. I host his site and have for many years. This is no good. I bet someone is trying to reach me at this very moment." The De-Elect David Emerson steering committee member then speculated www.jimprentice.ca visitors were likely being re-directed because "I might have inadvertently reset something yesterday when I was doing some work." The problem has since been rectified.