stephen harper – Page 3 – David Akin’s On The Hill

The PM's 2013 Christmas Card

The first Christmas card of the season arrived on my desk today — and it’s the official 2013 Prime Minister And His Family Card. Can hardly believe how those kids have grown. Continue reading The PM's 2013 Christmas Card

The Longer He's Prime Minister

PM-Elect Harper — i snapped this pic on Stephen Harper’s first day as prime minister-elect, the day after the 2006 general election, on his campaign plane winging it back from Calgary to Ottawa. This sight — Harper scrumming reporters on his plane or anywhere else was about to become an increasingly rare sight and, seven years on, is something almost never seen.

I’ve just finished reading Paul Wells’ The Longer I’m Prime Minister, a book I’m happy to recommend to Harper-haters and Harper-lovers alike largely because of the way Wells treats his subject:

I offer no blanket endorsement of the twenty-second prime minister. Much of what he has done makes me angry; much more is open to serious debate. But too many people in this country have spent too much time trying to ignore Harper, or to dismiss him, or, with varying degrees of ineptitude, to defeat him. He endures. I figure it is not too soon to try to understand hi . . . Readers who still cannot bring themselves to believe he is the elected prime minister of this country not only misunderstand Stephen Harper. They also misunderstand Canada..

The Harper-lovers will love paragraphs like this: Continue reading The Longer He's Prime Minister

Transcript: PM Harper on talk radio tour says Wright was fired over Duffy cheque

Maritime Morning aired an interview this morning by host Jordi Morgan of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. After the interview aired, Morgan explained that the interview took place under “certain conditions”, likely that the PM would come on if he got the chance to talk about the Throne Speech and the big Canada-Europe trade deal. The interview was taped on Friday. The brief interview started there but finished with this exchange on the Senate. (I have bolded the line that raised eyebrows in Ottawa):

MORGAN: … this unholy mess in the Senate. Senators are voting on the expulsion of Senators Wallin, Duffy, and Brazeau, all your appointments. What responsibility for all this lies with your office? Continue reading Transcript: PM Harper on talk radio tour says Wright was fired over Duffy cheque

In 2011 interview, Harper's new DComm dodged 2 questions — but not the pot one

Jason Macdonald — Jason MacDonald, seen here in 2011 while running for the Ontario PCs in an Ottawa riding, will become Stephen Harper’s 8th director of communications. (OTTAWA SUN)

Last Friday, Andrew MacDougall celebrated his last day as Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 7th director of communications with a long flight home (with me and other reporters) from the G20 summit in St. Petersburg. Today, MacDougall tweeted:

Congratulations @J_MacDonald_PC on being named DComm to @pmharper. Jason is professional, experienced & able to handle tough files #cdnpoli

— Andrew MacDougall (@AGMacDougall) September 12, 2013

And so, MacDonald begins his term as the 8th top comms official in Harper’s PMO. His last port of call Continue reading In 2011 interview, Harper's new DComm dodged 2 questions — but not the pot one

Breaking down Trudeau's pot data and his anti-pot voting record

In the interview in which we learned that Liberal leader Justin Trudeau had smoked marijuana “five or six times” in his life, including at least once while he was an MP, there was this paragraph and quote attributed to Trudeau:

Trudeau hopes to have a serious discussion with policy experts about legalizing weed this fall. Canadian taxpayers spend more than $500-million a year on enforcement and punishment related to marijuana convictions, he said.

“We are talking about 475,000 people since Stephen Harper has become prime minister who have criminal convictions because of marijuana,” the Liberal leader said. “Those are lives ruined.”

That was in an interview published Aug. 22.

On Aug 23, the Canadian Press moved a file with the following line: Continue reading Breaking down Trudeau's pot data and his anti-pot voting record

Harper returns to St. Petersburg older but is he wiser?

Harper in the back of the plane — Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks to reporters on his plane en route to the 2006 G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia (DAVID AKIN)

Stephen Harper had hardly every stepped outside of his native Canada when, in the first few months as Canada’s prime minister, he found himself flying to St. Petersburg for his first G8 summit. This week, Harper will return to St. Petersburg for the annual summit of G20 leaders.

I was among the reporters covering his 2006 trip and I will be among the press pack covering this 2013 G20 summit. Continue reading Harper returns to St. Petersburg older but is he wiser?

How it works between the press and the PMO

At a press conference Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave on Friday in northern Quebec, a journalist who is an accredited member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery but who works for the Chinese state-owned China’s People Daily, shoved a member of Harper’s communications staff. He was upset that he was being denied a chance to ask the PM a question. The RCMP were forced to intervene.

I was not there but you can read eyewitness accounts of this episode from reporters who were there, including Sun Media’s Bryn Weese, Postmedia’s Michael Den Tandt, CBC’s James Cudmore , The Toronto Star’s Tonda MacCharles, and The Canadian Press’ Murray Brewster.

As a result of this incident, my social networks have filled up with people talking about how things work between the press and the PMO. And a lot of people — including some who ought to know better — have allowed a lot of myths to fester. So let’s set the record straight starting with this canard advanced on Twitter by former Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish:

There are no ‘surpise’ questions at any Harper pressers. There’s a draw for reporters to get postions. All questions are submitted in adv.

— carolyn parrish (@carolynhparrish) August 24, 2013

Continue reading How it works between the press and the PMO

Harper's target practice session in Nunavut

Harper fires Lee Enfield Rifle — Prime Minister Stephen Harper shoots a .303 Lee-Enfield rifle while taking part in a demonstration by the Canadian Rangers at a camp near the Arctic community of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut Wednesday. Harper is on the third day of his annual tour of Northern Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in the midst of his annual northern tour. Here’s some of the scenes shot by Reuters Continue reading Harper's target practice session in Nunavut

A reader writes: Inky Mark on Merv Tweed and Stephen Harper

Inky Mark, first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 to represent Dauphin-Swan River in Manitoba, never did like Stephen Harper much and didn’t much care for the way the Reform Party he first joined morphed into the modern Conservative Party. He quit federal politics in 2010, after Harper had won his second minority.

This week, upon learning that Merv Tweed would resign his seat in Brandon-Souris — Tweed’s riding lies directly south of Mark’s old riding , Mark sends along this note:

Now that Merv Tweed has taken a plush job with Hudson Bay Rail, what will happen to the vacancy in Brandon Souris?
Will Stephen Harper appoint his replacement as he has done in Dauphin Swan River after I retired from Ottawa in 2010? Will the CPC members in Brandon Souris demand that an open democratic nomination process be followed? Hopefully the new MP won’t be just another rubber stamp for Harper.

Yours sincerely,

Inky Mark,
former Member of Parliament.