"The Harper Government" is now the official name of Government of Canada.

I'm satisfied to see tax dollars at work where it matters, building a cult of personality around the prime minister.




According to this article from the Globe and Mail, the government released a directive last night saying that the Government of Canada should be referred as "the Harper Government" in federal communications.

It's his government. He can wear what he likes.

This is a bit much. Technically, it's not his government at all. In a strictly constitutional sense, he's just running it for the Queen, who presumably has better things to do. And if he is running the government at the moment, it's not because of overwhelming support from the electorate. It's been five years since he took power, and only now are the conservatives "flirting with a majority."

While the whole thing has a certain arrogance to it, it's small change. If you really want to discuss cults of personalities, let's look at Saparmurat Niyazov, the dictator of Turkmenistan. He was not content with having Turkmen schools, airports, streets and highways named after him. In 2002, Niyazov renamed months and days of the week after himself and his family members.

Now Niyazov could get things done. Crazy things. He banned dogs from the capital, lip syncing at concerts, and shut down the internet. He also made his people build a golden statue of himself which rotated to face the sun (which has since been dismantled). 

On a cloudy day it just spun in circles, presumably

Harper informally renaming the federal government pales in comparison. Until I find myself wondering what I'm doing Harper-day night, or planning to go skiing in Whistler next Harper-uary, or sewing my costume for Harper-ween, I'm just not impressed.