Breakdown

Toronto Star national affairs columnist Chantal Hebert pointed out in last Wednesday’s entry that Prime Minister Stephen Harper “has not delivered a single comprehensive speech on the economy, on or off Parliament Hill,” adding that the most recent speech on the PM’s website came under the name “The Prime minister celebrates the Year of the Ox.” This concerned me.
I decided to check out his personal website, www.pm.gc.ca to investigate for myself. The greeting page features the PM, adorned with a flag pin on, smirking uncomfortably into the camera. The usually red maple leaf, recast in Conservative blue fills the space behind him.
Harper’s home page is the ultimate portal for keeping up on the PM’s activities. Recent updates reveal that since the Jan. 27 budget, Harper has been in Quebec City, Qc. to open Carnival, Miramichi, NB. to watch a Rotary Club hockey tournament and Toronto, On. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Macedonians of Canada. The road show doesn’t stop when he’s home in Ottawa; he’s been at Chinese New Year celebrations, Olympic events and countless construction sites.
The PM has been gracing all those lucky to be in attendance with speeches or addresses telling what ever group he’s visiting how his budget was specifically designed to help each of them. If you missed the tour there’s no need to worry, audio and video versions of the speeches are available on the site, as well as transcripts of the PM’s speeches.
You can also check out the “Prime minister’s Photo Album” located on the left bar of his web page. Catch him mingling with Vancouver 2010 mascots, patting ceremonial dragons or leering eerily at traditional Macedonian dancers, rest assured no treasured memory has been left uncaptured.
If you’re looking for the interactive experience, why not join the PM’s mailing list or check the links to his favourite departments? You can even sign up for Harper’s Foster Pet Programs – the current featured kitty is a five-year old white and grey domestic shorthair named Marilla.
The PMO seems to have taken their cyber cue from the Barack Obama campaign. The Obama for America website only just stopped accepting online donations. Over his two year journey through the nomination to the election campaigns, Obama’s website helped him to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
Obama has been the first true leader of the Internet generation, using e-mail, social networking sites and Youtube to reach millions of people. But unlike Harper, who’s been using the web to show everyone he’s a man of the people, Obama’s been using it to sell his message to the American people. The difference in approach stems from the fact that Obama actually faces opposition in congress. Harper caved into opposition pressure without a struggle and left himself with nothing left to do but drop pucks, launch ships and cut ribbons. In the process, he denied Canadians a proper debate on the stimulus issue, leaving us with an expensive, poorly conceived and uninspired budget.