Details of Conservative leader Stephen Harper's visit today to Victoria were so secret that even people working on local campaigns had no indication what he would be doing in the city until yesterday.
One campaign worker said they were told two weeks ago to keep the day free, but didn't get details until the day before Harper's visit. Reporters and news rooms received messages about it the evening before about the 9 a.m. appearance at a local hotel.
After Harper read a speech about consumer protection measures such as banning charges for unsolicited text messages and increasing penalties for “cartel behaviour like price-fixing”, a reporter asked if the level of security was making it difficult to connect with grassroots Canadians.
“This is not a campaign phenomenon,” said Harper. “It sometimes creates situations that are awkward. Just to pop into a drugstore to pick something up or walk down the street creates quite a hullabaloo.”
He doesn't hear about all the threats, he said, but there are security risks. “We're dealing with an era of global terrorism,” he said. “There are a disturbing number of threats, to the country and to whoever occupies the office of Prime Minister. This is unfortunate, but it's reality.”
On the subject of whether local candidates were being restricted in their campaigning, Harper said, “We encourage local candidates to campaign locally.” They are welcome to talk to local press, he said.
Oddly enough, his local candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands, Gary Lunn, was whisked away from a scrum after just a few minutes of being questioned on whether he considers oil and gas companies to be a cartel of the sort Harper was talking about, leaving local reporters with questions unanswered.
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grumpy dog
3 years ago
say what?
What a load...Lunn answered media questions and THEN was on the Bill Good show of CKNW for an all candidates debate right after the Harper event. The show was live and there were questions from the public...hardly "whisked away".
Dont believe me. You can go to the CKNW audio vault and check it out...10 AM..Thursday the 25th.
Maybe Mr. MacLeod needs to speak louder so he can get his questions answered over the scrum. Or just call into CKNW perhaps like the rest of us.
theinbetween
3 years ago
LAUGHS!!!!!
"We're dealing with an age of global terrorism..." Yeah the terrorism he's afraid of is what conservatives used to call the tyranny of the masses-in other words democracy.
I represent a local media outlet and when we requested an interview with Vancouver Centre candidate Lorne Mayencourt they flat out refused despite the fact that every other candidate from the other parties agreed within hours. It's very clear what Harper is doing-exercising as much control over the information coming out of his party camp as possible.
I'm sorry did the above commenter just refer to CKNW as a new as a news agency. HA!...and now back to our traffic desk
politico
3 years ago
Lunn is Done!
Whisked away alright!
Glad to see his pals NW give em a safe place to spout off his hollow rhetoric.
A Penn victory in S-GI is a resounding no to: nuclear power proliferation, mass resource exploitation and export, tanker traffic in our coastal waters and the further sell out of our countries natural and invested wealth.
It will deliver a blow directly to the heart of Harper's Cabinet. It will discredit his environmental and energy agenda and it will prove they are not as infallible as the mainstream will have you believe.
Bye Bye Gary!
Go to:
http://members.shaw.ca/shunlunn/blunders.htm
for details.