The Toronto Star has uncovered plans by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office to build its own media centre -- and supplanting the journalist-controlled National Press Theatre, where he's appeared once in 20 months.
Update
Sandra Buckler, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's director of communications, told The Canadian Press "there are no plans to pursue'' such a centre. ...
A spokeswoman from the Privy Council Office told CP that the exploratory project had been abandoned at an "early stage." She added that there are no other locations being scouted for a media facility.
Long kept under wraps, the plan – codenamed the Shoe Store Project – is in the works by the Privy Council Office and the PMO to establish a new government-controlled media briefing centre near Langevin Block.
The yellow-brown building that now houses Stephen Harper and his senior staff would supplant the current National Press Theatre, just a block away.
The National Press Theatre, used by prime ministers and cabinet ministers since Lester B. Pearson opened it in 1965, is a venue with simultaneous translation where on-the-record news conferences are moderated by press gallery executive members – not Harper's political staff.
Save for one surprise visit by Harper Oct. 3 (a visit that shocked even his senior staff) the National Press Theatre has been shunned by "Canada's New Government."
Now, documents obtained by the Toronto Star under the Access to Information Act reveal that government planning for a "special project for the PM, otherwise reffered (sic) as the Shoe Store Project" has been underway since at least last year.
Civil servants were asked to investigate the possibility of renovating an old shoe store location on the Sparks Street pedestrian mall "for the possible use of the PM."
"The rental sign will stay in place for now," says one memo, written in advance of a meeting with PCO Clerk Kevin Lynch, effectively Harper's deputy minister.
One document says the "dedicated press availability facility" is part of efforts to "put in place robust physical and information security measures to protect the Prime Minister and Cabinet."
Its estimated cost: $2 million.
Since the Conservative government's relationship with national media is already fraught with tension over curtailed access to ministers and Harper, the project was clearly deemed highly sensitive.
So sensitive, in fact, Public Works and PCO staff who scheduled a "walk-through" last fall of the National Press Theatre to scout out the "functional requirements (ceiling heights, technical equipment, etc.)" were ordered at the last minute to cancel "due to concerns expressed by Communications Branch."
Small wonder. A gaggle of public works officials checking out the press theatre on the first floor of the National Press Building would likely catch the eye of reporters whose offices are in the same building across from West Block. One document obtained shows staff came up with a working list of what to put in the Shoe Store Project, including "a stage or riser; comfortable seating for 40-80 people, security at the back and front door, electronic feeds for sound, sound boards, simultaneous translation space, phone-in capacity, proper lighting for cameras (may require drapes for windows), tables for handouts, products, etc., glasses, water, flags, backdrop, photocopier, full work station/internet hook-up, printer (large-capacity) in the back for officials to use, washroom facilities."
The result would be a little fancier than the National Press Theatre and, most important, give the PMO a lot more control over who gets in and, quite possibly, what gets filmed and broadcast.