The Conservative leader's tour went to an "undisclosed location" this morning for a "photo op" to illustrate Stephen Harper's new pledge to extend maternity and parental benefits to the self-employed. It is a bid to help women and entrepreneurs, Harper said.
It was suggested that the owner of a small business (EuroSpa), Angela Macheado, 50, was the kind of self-employed person who welcomed such a program.
It's not clear exactly when it would have helped her. Her two eldest daughters, aged 27 and 25, now help her run the business, which she opened in 2000. She previously owned a hair salon when she was 19 but sold it.
"With an expanding family she decided it would be better to sell the business and work for someone else," said a Conservative strategist.
The point was made she had to return to work shortly after her children were born. The strategist gave the example that after her fourth son's birth, Macheado was back on the job five days later.
But it appears, from the sketchy details provided to reporters who were not permitted to go to the "photo op," that the birth of her sons, now 19 and 15, would have predated her self-employment status.
Conservative spinners later said that her daughters hoped such a program would benefit them.
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