Green Party Leader Elizabeth May discovered something while acting as a leader earlier this month for a model parliament for students: A wall of Stephen Harper photographs in the the “Government Lobby”, the lounge area reserved for government MPs that is behind the green curtains on their stide of the aisle in the House of Commons:
It did not strike me until I walked into the Government Lobby to await my turn as Speaker that I had not been in there since Stephen Harper became Prime Minister.
It used to have some paintings on the wall. Past prime ministers, certainly a formal portrait of the Queen. Landscapes. I know there was the occasional photo of current Prime Ministers, but when I walked in this time, I felt chilled to the bone. Every available wall space had a large colour photo of Stephen Harper. Stephen Harper at Alert. Stephen Harper in fire fighter gear. Stephen Harper at his desk. Stephen Harper meeting the Dalai Lama. Even the photo of the Queen showed her in the company of Stephen Harper. None were great photos. None were more than enlarged snapshots in colour. They didn’t feel like art.
The student with me said it was the same in Langevin Block, the Prime ministers Office. Photos of Stephen Harper everywhere.
The PM’s deputy press secretary, Dimitri Soudas, confirmed the existence of this photographic display. The photos, taken by PMO official photographer Jason Ransom, show pictures of the PM as he travels about the country and the world and it gives PMO staff and MPs a chance to see their leader in action. Soudas notes that MPs and staffers do not normally get to travel with the PM.
Both the Government Lobby and the Opposition Lobby are strictly off-limits to reporters.
The Liberals, of course, were the previous occupants of the “Government Lobby” room and, I am told, they placed pictures of past Liberal prime ministers on the walls while they were in office.