Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Harper nomme un ancien porte-parole de Bush, Ari Fleischer, pour faire la promotion du Canada aux États-Unis.

[La Presse] Un ancien porte-parole de Bush a travaillé pour Harper

[Le Devoir] Harper recrute à la Maison-Blanche

[CBC] Stephen Harper a eu deux fois recours à un ancien porte-parole de Bush (Harper hired former Bush spokesman twice)

Harper s'est servi à deux reprises d'un ancien porte-parole de Bush




Wikipedia: Ari Fleischer (1960-) est un homme politique américain. Il était le secrétaire de presse de la Maison Blanche de 2001 à 2003. Il était le porte-parole du président Bush le 11 septembre 2001 et dans les jours qui précédèrent Operation Iraqi Freedom. Il aurait été impliqué dans l'affaire Plame.
Il fait partie du conseil d'administration de la Republican Jewish Coalition, coalition juive républicaine.

(Wikipedia: English)



http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/04/16/pmo-fleischer-mccu…

PMO hires 2 former White House staff to boost Canada's profile in U.S.

April 16, 2009

The federal government has hired two former White House spokesmen to help raise Canada's profile in the United States, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office confirmed Thursday.

Mike McCurry — who served as press secretary to former U.S. president Bill Clinton — and Ari Fleischer, who held the same role under former president George W. Bush, have been hired to boost Canada's profile in the U.S., said Kory Teneycke, the communications director for the PMO.

The New York-based Fleischer, who exited the White House in 2003, helped organize interviews during Harper's March visit.

McCurry, who was White House press secretary from 1994 to1998, is a principal at Public Strategies Washington, a Washington-based communications firm.
While this isn't the first time Canada has hired lobbyists to launch an American media campaign, it's the first time the government is being open and transparent about it, Teneycke said, though he refused to discuss how much the lobbyists will be paid or how long they will be retained.

The aim is to promote the strength of Canada's banking system and stable supply of energy, he added.

The government believes the Washington lobbyists have contacts the Canadian Embassy doesn't have, and can pitch interviews directly to prominent broadcasters and journalists.

"I think it makes a lot of sense," Paul Cellucci, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, told CBC News.

Michael Kergin, former Canadian ambassador to Washington, once told him Canada just could not get media coverage in the U.S, he said.

"Michael Kergin used to say he could take all of his clothes off in front of the Washington Monument and he wouldn't be able to get the national media down in Washington to pay attention to him. So I think that's the problem, and I think that's what the Prime Minister's Office is trying to address."

(...)



Ari Fleischer Defending Bush - video (Huffington Post, 11 March 2009)

Ari Fleischer: The Liar’s Gone, the Enablers Remain (2003)

Les consultants américains de Harper coutent cher
Ottawa -- L'embauche de deux anciens porte-parole de la Maison-Blanche par le premier ministre Harper a coûté près de 50 000 $ aux contribuables jusqu'à maintenant. Ari Fleischer et Mike McCurry ont chacun touché environ 25 000 $ pour un contrat de quelques jours.








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