Stevie Harper, Statesmanish

Andrew Mayeda writes about the very busy Prime Minister of New Canada and his doings at the G-8 summit. Seems very busy Stevie is too busy to confer with the likes of Bono, Geldof and Youssou. Why he's got far more impotent, er, important things to do. Like sniffing every chair that his bestest pal George sits in.

Stevie's probably very busy practicing his toy saber rattling in advance of his meeting with Russia's Putin,

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper will press Russian President Vladimir Putin on his country's democratic record when the two leaders meet Thursday at the G8 Summit, Canadian officials have confirmed."

Apparently, Stevie is concerned by Russia's treatment of journalists. Maybe he can suggest a strategy that doesn't include their suspicious deaths in favour of his own method, don't talk to them, cut off all access unless they're willing stenographers. So much tidier.

Like a good lapdog, Stevie is going to get up on his hind legs and quiver some of his chins at Putin.

"The reported meeting between Harper and Putin comes as tensions remain high between Russia and the United States over a U.S. missile defence shield.

Putin has slammed the proposed U.S. anti-missile bases in Europe, telling The Globe and Mail that he would aim Russian ballistic and cruise missiles at European targets if the U.S. went ahead with the plan to build the bases.

In his only public statement on the issue, Harper assured Putin that there is nothing to fear about the U.S. plans."

Very busy, have a biscuit. So with all of that, plus yawping about the Liberal's failure to meet the Kyoto targets that he plans to ignore, one can imagine that Stevie just can't find a minute to meet famous anti-poverty advocates.

"The celebrity trio has requested to meet with the prime minister several times over the last few days, but has received no response from the Prime Minister’s Office, said Taylor Thompson, a spokeswoman for DATA, an aid organization co-founded by Bono and Geldof.

Thompson said Canadians are known as “great, generous people,” but Harper’s team “is not currently doing them justice.”

Too darn busy to meet, or to respond to a request for a meeting. Because that might just encourage them dirty hippies. Besides, they've had the gall to criticize Canada for failing to meet it's commitments.

"Geldof earlier this week attacked Canada’s aid record. The outspoken singer, who co-founded DATA with Bono and organized the Live 8 series of concerts in 2005, accused Canadian officials this week of blocking the G8 from making specific aid commitments at the summit. The prime minister’s office denies the allegation."

I guess the dirty hippies don't realize that all criticisms of New Canada must be back-dated and directed to the previous government. Silly dirty hippies, they think they can pressure Stevie to honour agreements. They don't know Stevie and they couldn't find Kelowna on a map.

"At the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the group pledged to double aid to Africa by 2010-11.

Harper says Canada is on track to meet the commitment, but DATA says the government will need to increase aid funding by $479 million over the next two years to keep its promise.

The PMO has promised to provide figures to counter DATA’s claim, but has yet to do so."

That's because the department of making shit up is also very busy. So, who has time to meet with famous people that care about alleviating poverty, surely nobody of any importance.

"The U2 front man, accompanied by fellow Irish rocker-activist Bob Geldof and Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour, met on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday with U.S. President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi."

Poor Stevie, working overtime to embarrass himself on the international stage is hard. I hope Mr. Putin is ready to face the full weight of Stevie's indignation and suffer the threat that Canada will stand right behind George of America shouting, 'So there'. I can just imagine how impressed old Vlad will be, with that creepy, KGB grin on his face.