Ottawa

Just a couple of guys going fishing

The Prime Minister’s Office apparently won’t say whether Stephen Harper and Rob Ford went fishing at Harrington Lake.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the mayor’s office wouldn’t take the bait when asked about the meeting. George Christopoulos, Ford’s press secretary, refused to comment. The PMO was equally tight-lipped. “We do not comment on the prime minister’s private schedule,” Carl Vallée, Harper’s press secretary, said in an e-mail.

Philosophical question for the day: Could a meeting between two public officials at an official residence be considered private?

A little over a year ago, video was posted to YouTube of Stephen Harper speaking at a barbeque hosted by Rob Ford. That video disappeared, apparently at the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office. In that video, reposted below, Mr. Ford spoke of a previous fishing trip with Mr. Harper.

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