Canada's leader, media at odds

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has declared he won't talk to the national media because they are biased against him, his latest move in a spat with the Parliament's press corps.

After reporters walked out of a news conference this week when he refused to answer any questions, Harper said no Liberal prime minister had faced such effrontery. He said he would deal only with more friendly local press.

"Unfortunately, the press gallery has taken the view they are going to be the opposition to the government," the newly elected Conservative leader told a Canadian television network Wednesday.

"We'll just take the message out on the road. There's lots of media who do want to ask questions and hear what the government is doing for Canadians, or to Canadians. So we'll get our message out however we can," Harper said.

Since Harper's minority government took office Jan. 23, his relations with the national media have become strained. Determined to impose order on the traditionally chaotic press scrum where reporters shout out questions, Harper said he would choose questioners from a pre-screened list.

The parliamentary press corps, which includes broadcast and print reporters from throughout the country, worried that the new protocol would freeze out journalists perceived to be tough on the prime minister. After they refused to sign onto the list, Harper refused to take any questions.

Tuesday, when Harper's press secretary announced there would be no questions after his announcement of aid to the Darfur region of Sudan, nearly two dozen reporters walked out, leaving the prime minister to make his statement in front of a single camera in a nearly empty room.

"We are responsible for asking questions, and he is responsible for answering them," said Yves Malo, the president of the Parliament's press gallery.

Malo acknowledged that the press culture in Toronto was less decorous than other places such as the White House, where reporters stand up when the president enters the room and don't interrupt while he is speaking.

He said that the once-unruly press corps had tried to compromise by forming a line behind a microphone, but even then Harper refused to recognize some questioners.

"Since the election, certain reporters have never gotten a question. No one is well-served. We are not, the public is not, and the government is not," Malo said.

Harper, the first Conservative prime minister to hold office after 12 years of Liberal Party rule, has moved toward dismantling many of his predecessors' policies, including gun control, support for medical marijuana and backing of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

He says the press corps simply doesn't like his politics.

But across the country, Harper's popularity is growing.