What do Harper's PR people do?

All this week, the Star has been running a series called Secret Capital. The purpose of this series was to give Star readers a multi-faceted, close-up view of the way in which an unprecedented degree of control is being exerted over communication in Ottawa these days. My contribution to this series ran yesterday.

The final two installments, by my colleagues Tonda MacCharles and Allan Woods, appear in today's paper. Tonda tells how the control fixation comes right from the top, from the Prime Minister himself.

Allan has given us a closer glimpse into the communications shop of the Harper PMO when it's on the road.

The Woods' piece raises a question that all of us who have travelled with the PM have asked -- why bring along so many media handlers when you have a practice of not dealing with the media? Why is the Canadian taxpayer footing bills running to the tens of thousands to ferry these folks around the world, when, from Woods' reports, they seem to be little more than political tourists, rushing into elevators, for instance, to have their photos taken with President Bush?

I was on the first two foreign trips with Harper in early 2006, and like the rest of the pack, I simply was at a loss to understand what the communications folks were doing all the time we were in Afghanistan and Cancun. We rarely saw them and when we did, they had nothing to say. They seemed to function more as junior security officers. (In Afghanistan, I'm not sure additional security was needed, since Harper appeared to be well protected by the formidable, and scary, JTF2 guys.)

Subsequent foreign trips have just sealed and reinforced the pattern of virtual absence by the PMO communications team. Now reporters know to go to foreign governments for information about what Harper has been saying and doing on the road.

At any rate, it's worth reading the whole series if you have the time. It may help answer the question, often asked by supporters of the Harper government, about why we don't tell the government's side of the story often enough in our reportage. Here's the simple answer -- we can't tell the story if we don't know it.

Harper, it's said, is a long-term planner; his genius lies in his ability to identify the goal at the end of the road, and let the skirmishes and tactics sort themselves out along the way. So we've seen the skirmishes and tactics. The bigger question is: to what end?

Rae wins this leadership race

Next week's deadline is fast approaching for former Liberal leadership candidates to notify Elections Canada whether they need an extension to pay off campaign loans.

Bob Rae reportedly closed down his books today, loans all paid, with a surplus of $17.52.

Michael Ignatieff needs more time. He sent out a letter today to Liberals, saying:

"My debt started at about $800,000. On June 3, when Elections Canada requires all of the leadership candidates to file returns, I will be reporting the significant progress that I have made with your help. I don't quite know where I'll be on that day - some contributions are still in the pipeline or are being processed by the party - but I will not be fully paid off by the deadline. I am within striking distance and expect to pay off the debt completely by the end of the summer."

We'll probably have a better idea of all the outstanding debts early next week. Rae and Carolyn Bennett are the only two who won't be asking for more time.

Life after politics

Apologies for the gap in postings.  Now, a few items of note, to catch up:

* It's not official yet, but former Liberal cabinet minister and leadership candidate Allan Rock looks like he's headed back to the capital to become president of the University of Ottawa. The news has been filtering out all week, here and here.

* Liberal leader Stephane Dion sat down yesterday with former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair, to talk about climate change. They might have also discussed how Blair's successor is living through what seems to a repeat of recent Canadian political history -  the parallels between Gordon Brown's fate and that of Paul Martin are truly approaching on eerie coincidence.

* Belinda Stronach also met with Blair yesterday, to talk about his newly announced faith foundation, as well as the situation in Africa. Stronach is just back from a visit to Liberia, part of her Spread the Net work in fighting malaria.  Blair is reportedly hoping that his new foundation, intended to bridge religious differences in tackling poverty and war, can also be useful in the anti-malaria cause.

Joe Clark still a class act

CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS

Former Prime Minister Joe Clark stands next to his official portrait following an unveiling ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa May 27.

Former prime minister Joe Clark always gave beautiful speeches, especially in his time as Canada's constitutional affairs minister. I followed Clark in those years, across the country through 1991-92, and wrote a book on the whole adventure of the Charlottetown Accord. I never got tired of listening to Clark's speeches. And that's saying something. Most political speeches – then and now – are horribly dull.

Today, at his official portrait unveiling, Clark didn't disappoint. He spoke of the importance of respect in politics and I'm sure there were many in the room, like me, who got choked up at the end – when Clark also seemed to overcome with the emotion of it all. It was made all the more poignant by the presence of his wife, Maureen McTeer, his daughter, Catherine, son-in-law Chad Schella and – the scene-stealer, two-year-old granddaughter Alexandra.

Clark's portrait, by the way, is quite lovely – a simple, elegant depiction of a younger Clark in the House of Commons, making a familiar gesture of emphasis with his outstretched hand.

There have already been media stories about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's absence from this event (he's in Europe).

But important members of his cabinet were there – notably Senate leader Marjory LeBreton, who delivered official, and warm remarks, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

Justin Trudeau, son of the late prime minister, was in the crowd – no doubt in part to represent Clark's old adversary of the 1970s and early 1980s. LeBreton took friendly note of his presence, apologizing to him for having to note that Joe Clark is the only Conservative politician who ever delivered a defeat to Trudeau.

The crowd was a who's who of Ottawa, past and present, all evoking a more civil time in the nation's politics, befitting Clark's legacy. People from different parties sat shoulder to shoulder; old friends from across party lines warmly hugged one another as they crowded into the seats.

Former prime minister Paul Martin was in the front row, along with Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe and Green Party leader Elizabeth May also showed up. Throughout the room were former Conservative cabinet ministers, a healthy dose of Liberals, and of course those who've been in both camps – MPs Scott Brison and Garth Turner, for instance. 

It's too bad there aren't more events like this in Ottawa. Everyone walked away from that event feeling very good.

 

Small story? Just keep drilling

Here's some timely reflection, from south of the border, on the often-baffling ways that small stories can become big stories in today's new-media climate. It's from the Politico website, an exclusively online source of punditry and political analysis in the U.S.

There is a mention of Canada in here too, though not what anyone might guess. The Politico columnist points to a New York Times story from earlier this year -- about the Clintons' relationship to Canadian mining mogul Frank Guistra -- and wonders why this never became a big deal on the presidential campaign trail.

The Star did its own profile of Giustra, incidentally, and you can find it here.

New details in NAFTA memo leak

All the attention may be on the former foreign affairs minister at the moment,  but there's another important story in the Star today, in Jim Travers' column, which deals with nothing less than suggestions of a high-level cover-up surrounding Canada-U.S. relations.

Travers has exposed a bombshell of a detail, which was glossed over in the government's report on Canada's meddling in the Democratic presidential race in the U.S.

Multiple sources confirmed to Travers that even before a sensitive, diplomatic document found its way to the U.S. media in what's being called (tiresomely) NAFTA-gate, it first landed with a Republican contact, by the name of Frank Sensenbrenner, who has ties to a number of people in the Harper government and even worked briefly at the Canadian embassy.

Why was someone in the Canadian government keen to get this to a Republican source? Why wasn't this little piece of information pursued in the report by Privy Council Clerk Kevin Lynch? 

No doubt Barack Obama will want to know the same things, especially if he becomes president. In the meantime, we here in Canada will  watch for possible answers today in Question Period.

UPDATE: Apparently, the folks at the PMO/PCO are not among nearly half of Canadians who would like to see Obama as president, according to a new Angus Reid poll (.pdf).

Information explosion

The blockbuster news of the evening -- Maxime Bernier is out of cabinet.

Top-of-mind speculation:

• For a government seen as the most secretive and locked-down in recent memory, how strange is it that the biggest controversies revolve around carelessness with information? Wasn't it just last week that we heard how the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Ian Brodie, was the originator of the cross-border kerfuffle about Barack Obama and what he was saying about NAFTA?

And now, here we have Bernier and Brodie gone. 

Idle speculation:

• Wouldn't it be neat  and tidy if the classified documents -- the one with which Bernier was so careless -- turned out to be the ones that went astray in the NAFTA-bama business?

 

Been there, got the T-shirt

Here's what a Star colleague spotted this morning over at the Commons this morning....

A few minutes before Ukaranian President Viktor Yushchenko was to address Parliament, one formerly troubled politician was spotted in deep conversation with a currently troubled colleague.

The former, was National Revenue Minister Gordon O'Connor. He started off in Stephen Harper's Cabinet as Defence Minister, but was shuffled into the no-profile portfolio last summer thanks to his brash communications style and poor handling of the defence portfolio, which includes the sensitive Afghan mission.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier was the one receiving O'Connor's counsel. He looked agitated, threw his hands in the air and shook his head vigorously several times.

What could they have been talking about on the floor of the House of Commons?

-The tell-all interview of Mad Max's ex-biker babe, Julie Couillard, to be broadcast Monday night on French network TVA?

-Dispatching Canada's C-17 transport plane to Burma when none were available, forcing Defence to rush into a $900,000 rental agreement?

-Bernier's various missteps on Afghan diplomacy, including calling for the Kandahar governor's ouster?

Or maybe Bernier was seeking advice on how to make a soft landing when a cabinet shuffle doesn't work out in your favour. The high-profile Quebec Tory is rumoured to be on the way out as early as this summer.

How's it playing in Pe-Tory-ia?

We still don't have the official confirmation, but it's interesting to note how the expected departure of Ian Brodie from the PMO is being greeted with relief by some in Conservative quarters, such as here and here.

And here's some Conservative criticism of the juvenile attack ad on the party's website, noted on this blog and others yesterday.

It is kind of refreshing, actually, to see this independence of thought in a realm that often seems to thrive on recycling talking points from central Conservative command.

And incidentally, there's another theory why Brodie is leaving - Harper thinks people in politics should mind their own business. Nobody likes a gossipy busybody.

Waiting for the new Guy

As we're reporting today in the Star, it's all but official - Ian Brodie is out as chief of staff to the Prime Minister and Guy Giorno, a former chief of staff to Mike Harris, is in. Though there's no news release yet, we heard last night that celebrations were already under way at a pub on Elgin Street in Ottawa.

Many people inside the Ottawa bubble will be looking to see whether Giorno's appointment will usher in any changes in tone or style or substance in the capital. Perhaps the most interested people will be lobbyists, since Giorno has, since leaving Harris's office, become an expert in lobbying law.  Not so long ago, he was issuing criticism of the Harper government for failing to crack down on the lobbying that occurs after work hours - like, say, in pubs on Elgin Street.

"The public is actually probably more interested in what happens at a bar or restaurant at nine at night than what happens in a boardroom at nine in the morning," Giorno was quoted as saying in a Canadian Press report in January.

Here's a lengthy description of Giorno's credentials on the lobbying front.

Giorno, it seems, doesn't do much lobbying himself. Here's what comes up when you search his name in the federal Lobby Register.