Blushing Virgin

Kelly McParland: Stephen Harper fails to turn up at Olympics; sun rises

i’ve been scouring the press to find outlying what stephen harper was up to on friday, when he couldn’t be in china.

Personally, I was in favour of him not going to China if he didn’t feel like it. Paul Martin didn’t attend the opening ceremonies at the Athens Games and Harper skipped the winter Games in Italy without major diplomatic incident, so why should he have to go to Beijing? The answer to that, according to the Bob Rae/Harper-will-Insult-the-Chinese-if-he doesn’t-go-to-the-Olympics-crowd (See: Simpson, Jeffery; Globe and Mail; Aug 9) is that China will resent the Prime Minister’s absence and get even with us by not letting more Chinese tourists come to Canada, among other Bad Things.

Well, I’d say that says more about China than about us. Did the Greeks and Italians get in a snit and close off our access to their markets? Did the tourists stay home? Suggesting the Chinese will do so is a bit insulting to the Chinese, since it presumes they are both more insecure and more vindictive than either of those other countries. It also presumes Canada is such an insignificant backwater that the Prime Minister has to consult the Central Committee before making his summer plans. I’m going to wait for Bob Rae to become Prime Minister (which I think is entirely possible) and then ask him how many foreign powers he consults before heading up to the cottage, where he presumably doffs his trunks and leaps into the lake any time Rick Mercer asks.

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Still, I was curious about the exact nature of the Prime Minister’s scheduling conflict, the one he cited as forcing him to skip out on the opening ceremonies. A heavyweight Ottawa correspondent tells me there were no public events posted on his official schedule. Another suggests archly that he had an appointment with his cats.

I can find no reference to a Harper appearance of any sort in the news columns. Google turns up zip. Lots of talk ABOUT Harper — David Emerson, who was fired off to Beijing as his stand-in, hinted that the PM might make a surprise visit in the near buy stromectol online future — but not a single sighting of the man himself.

I did get one clue, though. Late Friday — even later than last week, when the PMO issued a trio of embarrassing news items in hopes no one would notice over the long weekend — the PMO issued three statements.

One noted that it’s only 100 days until the 90th anniversary of Nov. 11 (which would make it, let’s see, 143 shopping days til Christmas); a second noted it was Canada’s first National Peacekeepers Day (the day was achat cialis peaceful, so I guess it worked); and the third — ta-da — was a statement “wishing our athletes and their coaches the very best during their upcoming competitions. You are an enormous source of pride and inspiration for all Canadians and we salute your perseverance and dedication in your quest for excellence.”

So that’s what he was up to! Typing out statements to the press (who, being Tory-haters, blatantly ignored them), including an extra-special statement for Canada’s athletes.

And you thought he didn’t care.

National Post

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