Wednesday, November 10, 2010

On working definitions

Andrew Mayeda is right to mock Stephen Harper's excuse for hiding his presence in Winnipeg. But I'd argue that some of his explanatory examples are probably a little off base:
In response to my blog, the Prime Minister’s Office sent me an email to clarify who the Conservatives will be consulting.

“Our government’s economic consultations are with hardworking Canadians,” a PMO spokesperson said in an email. The spokesperson noted that Harper met with a roundtable of local businesspeople.
Based on that statement and the usual right-wing mantra equating "hardworking" with "wealthy" to justify regressive tax policies, I'd fully anticipate that Harper would consider a corporate executive at the yacht to be exactly the hardworking demographic he's after. (And anybody who merely works hard without a fortune to show for it would be well outside the true target audience - which may explain why the Cons would have wanted to hear from their chosen group alone.)

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