Ottawa

BTC: Family is everything (II)

National Post. Sept. 4, 2008. “Softly lit and accompanied by a soaring piano soundtrack, a new series of Conservative Party campaign ads purport to show Canadians a side of their prime minister they rarely get to see … ‘This is a side that Canadians don’t normally see and the Prime Minister is talking about issues that are very close to them,’ Conservative spokesman Ryan Sparrow said on Thursday.”

National Post. Mar. 6, 2004. “That 45-year-old Mr. Harper is not a better-known national figure after serving six years as an MP from Calgary Southwest, two of them as Canada’s Leader of the Opposition, is the result of a few ingredients. The first is that Mr. Harper is temperamentally averse to self-promotion. ‘I just have no affinity for it,’ he says. ‘To start with, this business is supposed to be about service to others. I don’t like talking about myself. I know politicians who go home and have the video running so they can watch their every appearance. But I hate watching myself on television. I hate hearing myself on radio.’ … Though he may not gravitate naturally to this kind of politics—the politics of personality—Mr. Harper is ready to play. To this end, I am invited to tag along as he walks his tow-headed, 4-year-old daughter Rachel to school and then visits with his son, Ben, 7, a budding hockey star, whom we see on the school playground. ‘I love being a father,’ he tells me afterward. ‘I spend a lot of time at the rink watching Ben’s games. The other parents are surprised at how often I’m there.'”

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.