Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister, sings "With A Little Help From My Friends" at a gala last night in Ottawa with Yo Yo Ma and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Harper survived a confidence vote this week with a little help from his former sworn enemies.
posted by salishsea on Oct 4, 2009 - 43 comments

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has found himself in a bit of an imbroglio this week. Having attended the state funeral of former Governor General Romeo LeBlanc, the evangelical Harper has been accused of pocketing a communion wafer, an action considered "seriously offensive" by Catholics [scroll down for explanation]. But as professor of Internet and E-commerce law Michael Geist notes, the confusing thing about the controversy isn't whether the PM did or didn't eat the wafer (or even whether he should have been offered it in the first place), but rather why Societe Radio-Canada (the French name for the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has yanked a video of the incident from YouTube. [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco on Jul 9, 2009 - 63 comments

Harper has called a federal election in Canada for October 14, 2008, ignoring his own fixed election date law. Polls predict another minority Conservative government. It will be the third national election in just over four years. [more inside]
posted by joannemerriam on Sep 10, 2008 - 98 comments

A coworker hipped me to this, and I found it quite astonishing that I'd heard nothing about it.

It's a great irony that, while the United States has probably never been less popular among Canadians than in the era of George W Bush, plans to integrate Canada more deeply into the US have been proceeding at a brisk clip. The threat of Canada being absorbed into the US has traditionally provoked strong reactions here, as the pitched electoral battles over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the 1980s and '90s attest. But the issue seems to have largely disappeared in recent years, leaving the impression that the push for deeper integration has stopped or that Canadians no longer care about it. Neither is true.

It seems that a goodly number of politically active groups are aware, however, and are organizing protests. How effective will those protests be when they won't be able to get within several kilometers of the site? Has anyone got any thoughts about this? How will they fit 52 stars on the Star-Spangled Banner? Should I don my tinfoil hat? Is the protest even relevant, given that most of the news reports I can find are calling it a fait accompli?
posted by I, Credulous on Jul 23, 2007 - 91 comments

Good grief. First, tips on how to write, now this. Yann Martel, award-winning author of Life of Pi (previously), believes the Canada Council for the Arts is not getting a fair shake from the Canadian government. The solution? Send Prime Minister Harper a book to read. Every couple of weeks, mailed on a Monday. In case you were wondering, the first book on the list is Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych (SparkNotes here). The Prime Minister’s office has not yet responded. Meanwhile, President Bush already has his own reading list.
posted by YamwotIam on Apr 17, 2007 - 25 comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he'll no longer give news conferences for the national media, after a dispute led a number of journalists to walk away from an event when he refused to take their questions.
posted by EarBucket on May 24, 2006 - 89 comments

Trekkergate escalates! Canadian blogger J. Kelly Nestruck puts out the call for pics of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, closet trekkie. (I wonder if Harper has has an autographed photo of William Shatner?)
posted by docgonzo on Apr 26, 2006 - 29 comments

Arguing the ceremony is only for the families, newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has forbidden the media from attending today's arrival of the remains of four Canadian soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan. Mr. Harper has also declined to lower the flag on Parliament Hill to half-staff. Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, retired soldier and former lobbyist for various defense contracting firms, says his government is returning to the tradition of honouring dead soldiers on November 11, Remembrance Day. Meanwhile, residents of the northern aboriginal community of Kashechawan, plagued by flooding and drinking water problems, are being evacuated, after government promises to repair a dike went unfulfilled. God Bless Canada.
posted by docgonzo on Apr 25, 2006 - 57 comments

(CanCon Newsfilter): The vacant seat on the Supreme Court of Canada will be filled by Marshall Rothstein of the Federal Court of Appeal. Interesting enough, as he's the fellow that ruled that Harvard was entitled to patent a mouse (which was overturned by the SCC) and was involved in banning Ernst Zundel and David Irving from Canada. However there's a twist. For the first time in Canada, Stephen Harper's new Conservative government has decided that an all-party committee will question the nominee and provide recommendations to the PM (although the final decision rests with Harper, and the committee has no veto power).
posted by loquax on Feb 23, 2006 - 14 comments

Harper wins Tory minority government. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will become Canada's next prime minister, as Canadians have elected a Tory minority government and ended a 12-year reign of Liberal rule.
posted by Robot Johnny on Jan 23, 2006 - 171 comments

An election will soon be taking place in Canada and the party led by Stephen Harper may form a minority government. Might as well know what these Conservatives stand for.
posted by johnnydark on Jun 1, 2004 - 44 comments