Global News – Decision 2008 – News

Final travel tally

Peter Harris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:09:00 GMT

43,990 kilometres by air.

4,850 kilometres by bus.

68 hours of air travel.

Enough to circle the globe 1,25 times.

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Harper across Canada

Peter Harris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:38:00 GMT

It's an amazing thing to see Canada in a day as Harper goes coast to coast in a bid for votes in precious ridings with tight races.

Here's New Brunswick:

Saskatchewan:

Misty B.C., where Harper hopes the Liberals will get a soaking:

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Giving thanks?

Peter Harris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:06:00 GMT

The huddled mass on a cold, wet Thanksgiving Monday wait to board Harper's plane.

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Mad dash

Peter Harris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:43:00 GMT

Harper kicks off his final mad dash: Charlottetown, Fredericton, Vancouver and then back to Calgary for E-day.

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A matter of perspective

Peter Harris — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:02:00 GMT

It's all about perspective:

Harper drew a big crowd of about 700 people in Quebec City...

But left a whole in the room big enough to drive three buses through ...

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Dishing it out ... sorta

Peter Harris — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:51:00 GMT

The Prime Minister opting to dish up baked beans at a Thanksgiving breakfast in St-Tite, Que. instead of dishing out answers on the second last day of the campaign.

The chances of speaking to him today? "Zero to none."

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Harper musters the troops

Peter Harris — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:52:00 GMT

Friday night was all about who had the biggest rally in the Big Smoke.

On the same night the Liberals listened to Jean Chretien and rallied around Stephane Dion downtown, Stephen Harper had about 1,400-1,500 supporters out to a conference centre near Pearson International Airport.

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Hitting Cruise Control

Peter Harris — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:02:00 GMT

Over the next two days, Canadians will carve up more than just turkey. Voters will slice away at who they want governing Canada through these historic days and coming up with an answer means asking lots of questions of themselves, their family, and friends about what party fits the bill.

Meanwhile, Stephen Harper wants to leave a good last impression and in these last critical days his campaign team may be shutting down questions to get it done.

The Conservatives are still considering a scrum or 'availability' tomorrow but it isn't a sure thing, and Monday will be jammed with whistlestops across the country as Harper flies west to Calgary. They argue this faster pace will make it too busy for questions raising, well, at least one big question: is this the return of the bubble?

Critical missteps in the dying days of the 2004 and 2006 campaigns cost the PM seats. The Conservatives dread the prospect of another last-second mistake, especially as their internal polls give them a bounce (in fact, the campaign has been less nervous in the last couple days).

This means voters will see a lot of Stephen Harper but cannot expect to hear much more beyond the stump speech.

The Tale of the Tape

Peter Harris — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:26:00 GMT

Stephen Harper's tour usually runs on a tight schedule but Thursday's Winnipeg stop turned out to be very different.

The Conservatives delayed the campaign plane's departure by well over an hour. Wheeling out a TV, they desperately wanted reporters to catch a local CTV anchor in Halifax grilling Grit leader Stephane Dion.

The anchor asked Dion, "If you were Prime Minister now, what would you have done about the economy and this crisis that Mr. Harper had not done?" Dion stumbled badly. Then again. Then again. Three big fumbles as he tried to figure out the question and how to answer. It wasn't pretty.

Smelling blood, the Tories ran into the media filing room minutes later: Mr. Harper would do an old-fashioned close-up scrum, something he hasn't done at all during the campaign.

Reporters hastily set up in a hallway, staffers argued over where the 'x' for the PM's spot to stand should go, and finally Harper emerged to say the flub was all about how his opponent would handle the economy. For the Tories, this was a major policy error.

But a handful of the French reporters on the plane were wondering if it wasn't something entirely different. They debated if the Dion slip-up was a result of his language skills. As one reporter said to me, "This could boomerang for Harper."

Before it was over it started swinging back. In his French answer about the gaffe Harper said “When you’re running a $1.5 trillion economy, you don’t get a re-take.” The only thing is that a trillion in French is very different than trillion in English. Ironically, Harper stumbled in his second language.

The Harper campaign has taken a beating in Quebec over their promise of stiffer sentences for young offenders and recent cuts in funding for artists. A couple staffers are starting to concede that Quebec isn't looking good and holding on to their 10 seats might be a challenge.

If Stephen Harper's colour commentary on the Dion tape is wrong, and voters (especially in Quebec) see it more as a blooper and less about policy, could this be strike three for Harper in Quebec?

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Prime Minister Dion

Peter Harris — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:59:00 GMT

As he feels the heat form anxious voters watching their personal savings evaporate away, Stephen Harper revealed a new rhetorical trick to his answers. At his stop earlier today in Richmond, BC he called Liberal leader Stephane Dion “Prime Minister Dion” – not once, but three times during a scrum.

Here’s one of those answers: “I’ve said from the outset that I believe this is a close election that can go any way,” said Harper, “I’ve said that from day one. I’ve reminded some of you that we were behind in the polls two weeks before this election began. So, this is an election that can go either way but there will be one of two outcomes: there will either be Prime Minister Dion, who will tackle our economic problems by increasing spending that we can’t afford and increasing taxes to pay for it or our government which will keep spending under control and keep taxes going down. Those are the two choices dealing with the economic problems in front of us.”

As one of his advisors said to me, this is a very deliberate attempt to boil down into three words what they hope is the ballot question - Dion versus Harper - but there is a risk to this approach, too. By going public saying “this is a close election”, Harper is admitting that the past few days have hurt the Conservative campaign and that the party’s internal polling is likely telling them it is a close race.

Also, this election will be decided this weekend at kitchen tables as families and friends talk turkey and hash out where they plan to mark their ballot. What if people don’t mind the sound of those three words together? They’re counting on the idea that it will drive enough voters away but, as Mr. Harper even admits, the Liberal brand is a strong one.

Airplane hum blots out scrum

Peter Harris — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:54:00 GMT

Conservative candidate James Moore scrumming on the tarmac at the Victoria airport as an airplane roars its engines a few metres away.

Let's just say what he said wasn't all that clear thanks to the plane ...

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Tough crowd

Peter Harris — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:07:00 GMT

'Nuff said:

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Stephen Harper: fashion icon

Peter Harris — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:54:00 GMT

The picture writes its own caption:

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Opposites attract

Peter Harris — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:50:00 GMT

The Canadian Auto Workers union held a meeting right next door to the media room used by the Conservatives for today's platform launch.

Toronto's a big town but CAW economist Jim Stanford (seen here) said it was strictly serendipity. The focus for the CAW meeting? What to do about the evaporating jobs in Canada's auto plants.

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PM protection

Peter Harris — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:44:00 GMT

The PM's security detail was 10 officers deep in Laval, Quebec. Protesters had just crashed the speech but were drowned out by one of Harper's liveliest crowds yet, chanting "Harper! Harper! Harper!"

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Stephen Harper's Day Off

Peter Harris — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:11:00 GMT

The Harper campaign is taking a breather back in Ottawa tomorrow and I have wondered how a politician justifies a day off with just over a week to go until election day.

Stephen Harper wandered to the back of the plane and cleared it up. On top of the fact that he's running a frontrunner's campaign, the PM finds the debates to be the most exhausting part of an election. "There's only two nights in this campaign and it's always the same: the two nights after the debates," he said, "this is how I was in school: I always slept before an exam, I could never sleep after exams because I always got so keyed up."

He was so keyed up after the English debate that he got up at 3AM to watch the vice-presidential debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. How does he control these nerves? "You're always best to pace yourself," he said, a bit of wisdom he gleaned from - wait for it - Pierre Trudeau and the steady, announcement-a-day pace Trudeau kept against Joe Clark in 1980.

He also added that voters usually have their minds made up heading into an election. "A lot of the campaign occurs before the campaign,' said Harper, "Campaigns are important but a lot of minds are made up before you get there."

Harper admitted that he made mistakes in the 2006 election (but didn't elaborate) and said this campaign is going more or less as planned adding that it "may be more fluid than some others ... (long 15-second pause as he picked his words carefully) ... because of the nature of some of the campaigns." Hmm - what campaign could he mean?

Away he goes into the final stretch ...

Peter Harris — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:41:00 GMT

Stephen Harper left the Ottawa airport this morning to the cheers of about 140 loyal fans on his way to New Brunswick, where the Tories believe there are seats ready to be plucked away from the Liberals.

We were hustled out the back door of the plane to cover Harper's remarks. The party even set up a sound box and velvet ropes in anticipation - only the PM didn't say a word.

Here's the strange part: an RCMP officer pushed us back behind the velvet rope and got in a barking match with one reporter. "I am instructed to put you back there," he said. The people telling him to push reporters back? One of Harper's political staffers, the same one batting away the TV crew's microphone during this photo-op.

This is another incident in a growing list of evidence showing that the Conservatives are using police officers for PR control. Maybe it's just me but people carrying weapons shouldn't be spinning and controlling media during an election campaign.

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The calm before the storm

Peter Harris — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:16:00 GMT

The stage is set for the debate, take two.

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Spinning the debate

Peter Harris — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:05:00 GMT

For the last two hours, the five federal leaders went after each other on eight different topics ranging from the economic crisis in the US to arts funding to the Afghan mission.

My BlackBerry buzzed like a fridge during the entire French debate, emitting a digital guffaw every time a leader made a statement. This buzzing was the sound of war rooms cranking out the spin behind the scenes.

Here's the Top 3 final tally after all this noise: the NDP win for sheer volume with 17 press releases, counterpoints and 'reality checks' over the course of the debate; the Liberal war room sent out 13 emails and managed to squeak in the last word ("Harper's imaginary arts spending"); the Conservatives sent out only 7 counterpunches but had the most efficient attack with a release called "Partisanship" that pulled in an Ottawa-based academic on top of both the Liberals and NDP.

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Staying on message

Peter Harris — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:28:00 GMT

It's no secret that politicians and their strategists try to keep politics to a tightly controlled script, and this is especially true during a campaign.

Politicians rely on teleprompters much of the time and Stephen Harper is no exception, looking to a prompter for his carefully-crafted words at each of his campaign stops.

This prompter at the war room is the mother of all teleprompters: flat screen, plasma, and no doubt in HD. My guess is that it will keep him on message today - but I've been known to be wrong ...

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"Where did you go to, Cotton Eye Joe?"

Peter Harris — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:38:00 GMT

Stephen Harper arrived in the suburb of Ile-Perrot to introduce his 22 candidates from in and around Montreal. Unfortunately for him and his staff, this was about how many protesters were waiting for him to drop by.

Maybe it was the way they chanted ‘Solidarity!’, or perhaps it was the way Coldplay and that annoying song from hockey games, Cotton Eye Joe, blared from the back of a truck – either way, Conservative staffers got edgy and nervous. The media buses stopped cold in the parking lot 500 metres from the venue.

Loud noises and crowds always draw reporters in (likely due to short attention spans) so everyone starting rumbling that we wanted off the bus.

Staffers said ‘no’ and refused to move and let us off the bus. Things started to boil over but it wasn’t until one reporter said ‘get the camera’ that staffers backed off. It didn’t end there: as we walked towards the fledgling protest a local RCMP officer told us that we couldn’t walk over and speak with the gathered crowd. The officer quickly held off when he realized it didn't look so good.

The entire episode was a glimmer of a checkered past littered with useless showdowns between this government and the media. When it was over, one of Harper’s advisors said it was the result of ‘aimless communication.’

One final note: the PM returned to his bus after the rally. For the next half hour, former Senator Michael Fortier (who’s running for a seat this time around) hustled a handful of candidates down a driveway for a little one-on-one time and a photo with the leader. One staffer shouted ‘Next!’ as they worked through the candidates – ah, the ‘Big Blue Machine’ in action …

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Colour commentary

Peter Harris — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:40:00 GMT

A seven-hour stretch between the Prime Minister's events turned today's photo-op at a recycled paint factory in Victoriaville, Quebec into an exciting sideshow.

Yes, that's right: with so little going on (despite, or likely because of, slip-ups by Ministers Gerry Ritz and Lawrence Cannon's staff) it was more interesting watching paint dry today.

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A Burning Campaign Issue ...

Peter Harris — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:23:00 GMT

Before Stephen Harper arrived at his press conference promising a ban on flavoured tobacco products aimed at kids, he took a detour to a convenience store to see the products on the shelves for himself.

Makes sense, only he arrived at a corner store unannounced and surrounded by his RCMP detail.Can you imagine what went through the poor owner's head as he stood behind the counter? I'm told that he was a little overwhelmed so, on top of a cigarello (the kind Harper targeted with his promise), the PM bought an Aero Mint chocolate bar because he felt bad.

One other thought: some of the flavoured products surrounding the PM at his announcement were specifically called 'blunt wraps'. Google these two words and the first site to come up is the 'Jupiter Cannabis Shop' in Edmonton, Alberta. The's shops site says tobacco blunts are "for those who like to 'roll your own'" and can only be sold to people over 18 years old under Alberta tobacco laws.

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Grounded x 3

Peter Harris — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:33:00 GMT

As the Harper campaign buses flew along the 401 to Niagara-on-the-Lake tonight, in the last half hour we received word that three campaigns had come to a grinding halt:

1 - Electrical troubles forced the infamous Liberal campaign plane down in Montreal. There are far too many metaphors to frame this incident -- the campaign went into a tailspin, had trouble getting off the ground, lost its spark, etc -- so I will just leave it at, well, the campaign plane is down overnight.

2 - The Bloc had electrical trouble of its own. A blackout at the Bagotville airport briefly blocked the Bloc plane's departure tonight but it eventually took off.

3 - A suspicious package at the Ottawa airport (which Ottawa police called a false alarm) cancelled several flights tonight including Elizabeth May's trip to Halifax. May was heading to Halifax for tomorrow's Green Party platform launch. She will make it but the launch has been pushed back a couple hours.

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Wal-Mart whistle stop

Peter Harris — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Retail politics in Kitchener, Ont. ...

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X marks ...

Peter Harris — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:07:00 GMT

.. the PM's spot!

The Conservatives nudged their plane nose into Hangar 11, part of the Canadian government's official reception centre, with the tail hanging out.

Stephen Harper's supporters gathered at the base of the stairs to the plane to cheer on their man and, as you can see, the PM had a mark to hit ...

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Tories are chillin'

Peter Harris — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:50:00 GMT

Week one is done and we're in it now - or are we?

Things are anything but tense aboard the Conservative plane. On the flight from St. John's to Ottawa last night Laureen Harper wandered up and down the aisle slicing up cake for a young staffer's birthday.

Meanwhile, the PM kicked back, taking a couple hours to work on his hockey book (which his aides swear he will finish). It looks like this past week's hiccups are forgotten. Either he's thinking this week went well or he is as aware of the coming hockey season as he is about election day ...

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Have a great weekend (?)

Peter Harris — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:31:00 GMT

Strangest campaign slogan ... ever?

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Signs, signs ...

Peter Harris — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:31:00 GMT

I'm skipping the campaign bus ride in favour of walking the whole 20 minutes through Summerside, PEI to Harper's next event.

Apparently, someone forgot to tell this town that there's an election, let alone that the Prime Minister is in town.

I saw a dozen 'for sale' signs along the ocean and up through neighbourhoods packed with small clapboard houses, but not one campaign sign. Nothing.

Now, of course, loud believers and thundersticks will surely figure in the event that's about to start but it appears as though the sea breeze is drowning out the election noise.

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The List redux ...

Peter Harris — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:35:00 GMT

Harper took 10 questions today visiting a suburban Richmond middle class home. Reporters spent 10 minutes in a huddle wrangling over what questions should be put to the PM.

A Conservative staffer weighed in saying that journalists who asked questions yesterday won't get a question in today, saying it will work as a rotation.

I couldn't help taking this snapshot:

What you see here is the Conservatives' list for questions.

All I could hear were echoes of the last two and half years of squabbling between the press gallery and the PMO over the infamous lists.

To be fair, they see it as making sure everyone gets a question, but reporters are pretty good at working around these kind of limitations on their own.

As one reporter said, "it's a hybrid" list. So far, there is no fighting on the campaign trail as staffers reinforce the PM's 'nice guy' image. Based on past campaign performances, expect this to change ...

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