PM's playoff junket draws fire

Nice to see Harper supporting the Canucks

Question Dan, ever hear of Obama (or any President) catching flak for flying with the USAF?

There was a bit of a spat when he took his wife to a date night in New York, but there are plenty of good date spots in D.C. that are open every night. The Stanley Cup is only open 4-7 nights in one city. Besides, this is the STANLEY CUP FINALS, one that has a Canadian team. This is immensely more important than some random date night.

Good for Harper! He has every right to attend a game if we wants to. It is not his fault that he is prohibited from flying commercial airlines. Hockey is Canada's game. It is only fitting that the PM takes an interest in the game.

He's not allowed to fly commercial and had to pay a comparable flight price to use it and paid for his tickets. It's just the opposition parties trying to be relevant again.

Nice to see Harper out to watch the Bruins cruise to another win.

Harper's a closeted Bruins fan! He used his Sith Lord mind powers to screw with the Vancouver bench! It's all part of his master plan to put troops on the street, erase the border, and sell us out to the Confederacy! Google Stephen Harper + Hitler + he's gay! Oh noez, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!

Harper should have flown Porter.

The trip was the topic on CBC and their poll had the disapproval rating at 61%, it's ridiculous. The Prime Minister should be able to go a Stanley cup playoff game; the PM goes to the Grey Cup games sometimes

Depending on how they word the question, they can make the answer slanted any way they like. That and the opposition party has fuck all to do these days.

I dont have a problem with this per se, but I guess my question to most of you is: Should the PM attending a Stanley Cup game be a legitimate taxpayer expense, like attending the Olympics or a visit from the Queen? If so, what sports are ok? What if he is a Cricket fan and wants to see Team Canada play in the world cricket championships in Kuala Lumpur? What if he is a dog enthusiast and wants to see a Canadian champion in the Westminster Dog Show? Is there a line? Are you approving of this expense simply because you are hockey fans and/or Harper fans, or would you still approve if this was Ignatieff going to the Cricket championship?

Also, for his first several years in office, Jean Chretien used to fly commercial instead of taking the Airbus A310 (because he opposed its purchase). And all PMs, including Harper, fly commercial charter during election campaigns, so security policy is obviously flexible, its not a law or enshrined in the constitution or anything.

Further, please note that the article indicated the cost of operating the Challenger jet as $3,000 PER HOUR and yet Harper only reimbursed the taxpayer the cost of a commercial flight to Boston. I've never flown Air Canada to Boston but I bet even first class tickets don't cost $3,000 per hour, so whatever reimbursement he provided was minimal.

Sounds like he did everything by the book. Nothing to see here.

I think the issue is that there actually is no book, Ruez.