We expect governing parties to use the leverage they gain from being in power to remain in power. It’s part of the game called politics, and there’s a certain amount of latitude granted because none of us are saints, and it would take a saint to completely avoid the temptation.
But there are limits, and an expectation, too, that the party in power will not be too exuberant or blatant about brainwashing us with our own money.
At least there used to be. But it would seem in the current era of hyper-partisan politics that those boundaries haven’t been blurred, so much as erased.
The ‘Harper Government’ seems to know no restraint when it comes to attaching its brand to government documents. A recent media release about youth employment initiatives in the Cowichan Valley uses the phrase ‘Harper Government’ no fewer than seven times in a page-and-a-half.
Once should have been too much.
The Government of Canada does not belong to Stephen Harper. Nor does it belong to the Conservative Party. The Government of Canada belongs to, and acts on behalf of, the 35 million Canadians who make up this country.
Prime Minister Harper is not a stupid man, nor are his advisors. They know a boundary is being crossed when they paste the phrase “Harper Government” all over every official document. They also understand what it means when we accept that kind of crass paternalism as ‘normal.’
- Ladysmith Chronicle