Was the red meat speech deliberately leaked by the Conservatives?

There's a barely plausible conspiracy theory making the rounds that Harper's 'red meat' speech was actually deliberately spread by the Conservatives themselves as a plot to get more media exposure, and to overlap Flaherty's bad news economic update yesterday.

Niccolo Machiavelli himself would scratch his head over this one.

If there truly was Conservative advantage to having this speech leaked, then the Conservatives could not have counted on the Liberals to pass the information on. They could have not guaranteed getting airtime to overlap Flaherty's update.

There would be far better ways to guarantee airtime. They could have just leaked the video directly to the press themselves, or through a trusted intermediary. The media doesn't care who gives it to them. They care only about the content.

Finally, to get even more press, Harper could have done a similar speech in the open with some media watching, no sneaky complex plots needed, and have gotten considerable media coverage.

The speech is only attractive to Harper's base. Harper has effective ways to reach them already. The content of this speech is the sort of thing which alienates swing voters. I can't see the Conservatives wanting to spread it. There are good reasons why Harper does not speak like this in public.

Update:

Finally, who thinks this speech of Harper's is going to help the Conservatives in Quebec? Via Cowboys for Social Responsibility, I see that six of Harper's meager 10 seats there are in danger.