Stephen Harper must be frustrated. He's tried even harder than President Obama to box Vlad Pootie's ears — not only putting the brakes on the G-8, but recalling his ambassador to Russia and flying the Ukrainian flag on Parliament Hill. Still, nobody seems to be noticing.
But no matter, because Canada is, alas, used to being eclipsed by its giant neighbor to the south. Besides, Harper has his mind on other things — like politics. Specifically, using a recent, official, invitation-only event with the Aga Khan to harvest the e-mail addresses of potential Conservative supporters. Hm.
Now, far be it for us cats to be offended by promotional data mining. Goodness knows, we've received plenty of e-mails asking us to wish the President, Mrs. Obama, President Clinton, and other Democratic luminaries a "happy birthday!" — and we know that if we do, we'll get a fundraising appeal down the road. We also are not shocked that anyone sending congratulations to Justin and Sophie Trudeau on the birth of their new baby would land in the Liberal Party's database. (Harper himself, in fact, has asked Tory supporters to wish wifey Laureen a happy Mother's Day... same result.)
But placing the livestream of an official event on the Conservative Party website and restricting it to those who sign up with a name and e-mail address? That just doesn't pass the smell test. And we cats have very good noses. Which makes us HISS.
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