Canada PoliticsPMO maintains there is no policy for using the term ‘Harper Government’
The Prime Minister's Office maintains that a Canadian Press report which states bureaucrats have been directed to replace the words Government of Canada with 'Harper Government,' in departmental releases, is false.
In an article published Tuesday, the Canadian Press reiterated its name-change directive yarn, citing new documents received under the Access to Information Act.
"The directive we have from the (director general's office) is that if PCO adds the Harper Government reference, then we leave it in," said an email to communications officials at Industry Canada, dated Oct. 5, 2010.
"Please proceed with this approach. Sorry -- it is what PCO has instructed."
Despite the new 'evidence' however, the PMO insists no directive was ever given.
"The term is used frequently by media and members of the Opposition," Sara MacIntyre, Press Secretary to the office of the Prime Minister told Yahoo! Canada News in an email exchange.
"It is a practice used by other governments as well, take a look at provincial government release. There is no policy for using the term Harper government."
A look at some of the press releases from the other provinces does, indeed, confirm MacIntyre's assertion.
In Ontario, a headline in a recent government press release reads: "McGuinty Government Announces New Development Fund to Help Local Communities."
In April, a Government of Manitoba news release stated "Sellinger Government Adds 1,200 Apprentice Seats"
An Alberta government website, from 2007, noted a capital infrastructure project aligning with "Premier Ed Stelmach's government" priorities.
According to the Canadian Press, top former civil servants say calling the government the Harper government "marks a disturbing new trend in the politicization of the bureaucracy -- and breaches both communications policy and the civil service ethics policy."
While there may be some merit to that argument, naming the government has been happening for many years and at all levels of government - whether or not it came from an official directive or not.
