Stephen Bonaparte Harper

[marmar]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ULlIP5MJMs/SpifJsmjTMI/AAAAAAAACZA/KgYZ69zyU5k/s400/Steve+Bonaparte+yes.jpg



from the Toronto Star:



Harper’s Message Event Proposals reveal ‘hyper-extreme’ political control
Published On Sun Jun 06 2010

Mike Blanchfield
and Jim Bronskill

The Canadian Press


OTTAWA—An MP’s Sunday afternoon visit to a seniors’ home. The federal purchase of powerful new military aircraft. A journalism student’s innocuous query about Africa.

One thing connects them all — the Conservative government scripted each event using a potent but little-known communication tool called the Message Event Proposal.

The Canadian Press has obtained almost 1,000 pages of MEPs from several government departments, including the Privy Council Office, under the Access to Information Act. The PCO, the bureaucratic nerve centre of Ottawa, has been conscripted by an increasingly powerful Prime Minister’s Office to vet requests for public events across the federal government.

The MEPs have blurred the time-honoured separation of non-partisan public servants and political staffers and sidelined seasoned government communicators, sapping morale across the civil service.

They have become the political tool for literally putting words in the mouths of cabinet ministers, federal bureaucrats, low-profile MPs on the barbecue circuit, and seasoned diplomats abroad.

“Your authorization is sought for President Greenhill to respond to questions ... during the press conference,” reads one MEP prepared by the Canadian International Development Agency asking the PCO to allow its then-president, Robert Greenhill, to speak at a high-level United Nations panel. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/819779--harper-s-message-event-proposals-reveal-hyper-extreme-political-control?bn=1

[BolivarianHero]

1. Harper's a lunatic...

People don't appreciate how nuts this guy is. He handpicks evangelical cronies for positions in the PMO and the senior civil service. People who believe that the world is 6,000 years old are too stupid to be running the government of a civilised and modern society.

[snagglepuss]

2. Thanks for posting this. It's absolutely shocking and disgusting. Harper

is worse than I could have imagined. I'm hoping that the excessive cost and massive inconvenience of the summit will destroy any hope that he can conjure up a majority. What I also find worrisome is the degree that media are bending over backwards to cast Harper in a good light, for instance when there is positive news story Harper's name will be mentioned but when a story reflects badly on Harper, his name isn't mentioned. This was abundantly evident when the Summit costs were being revealed two weeks ago, GlobalTV never mentioned Harper's name,or referred to the Tories, or even mentioned the federal government, they simply referred to "the government" Listening to the reports one could easily conclude this fiasco is the fault of Toronto's mayor. CityTV and CTV are no better. It really seems that corporate owners have given marching orders that Harper and the Tories are to be protected and promoted n a way I've never seen before.