Liberals Mock PM For Being On Vacation – While Ignatieff’s On Holiday
Posted January 6, 2010 7:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a lesson in why politicians in glass houses shouldn’t lob stones.
The Liberal party made a light-hearted attempt Tuesday to poke fun at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to impose a three-month parliamentary vacation and wound up instead raising questions about the whereabouts of holidaying Grit Leader Michael Ignatieff.
The Liberals launched an online contest challenging Canadians to come up with brief suggestions for the automatic “out of office” reply that would explain Harper’s decision to prorogue or suspend Parliament until March 3.
They offered a few samples, such as: “Hi. My pollster advised me to lay low until the Olympics bring me back into majority territory. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
The contest announcement included a photo-shopped image of Harper in a loud Hawaiian shirt, with a lei draped around his neck. In the background on one side of the prime minister was the door to the House of Commons, with a “closed” sign plastered on it.
On the other side, was a picture of a beach with the slogan “Just Vacationing” superimposed over it – a riff on the Tory mantra that Ignatieff is “just visiting.”
The contest immediately prompted Harper’s office to point out that the prime minister is not, in fact, on vacation, whether or not Parliament is sitting. He was working in his office Monday and Tuesday and gave an interview on Tuesday afternoon. The prime minister is slated to be in Atlantic Canada later this week.
By contrast, Harper spokesperson Dimitri Soudas said: “Michael Ignatieff is still on holidays in Europe and his staff is hard as work dreaming up useless contests.”
Ignatieff’s office refused to say precisely where the leader is, other than to say that he’s “away with his family.”
Online contests have led to Liberal red faces in the past. A Liberal online contest last month invited people to submit mock photos of Harper that would explain his reluctance to attend last month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen. One submission showed Harper’s face photo-shopped onto the famous picture of the fatal shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of U.S. president John F. Kennedy.
The party removed the photo and was compelled to apologize.
