'No one has been barred' from Harper's Malaysia trip, PM's spokesman says

A veteran TV cameraman will be allowed to travel to Malaysia with the Prime Minister this week after all.

Earlier today, Stephen Harper’s office appeared poised to scratch CTV journalist Dave Ellis from the trip because he asked an impromptu question during a media event last week in New York.

The TV networks fought back, insisting that they – not the Prime Minister’s Office – should decide who to assign to cover Harper when he travels abroad.

Shortly after news of the dispute became public, however, Jason MacDonald, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, said no accredited journalist would be prevented from boarding Harper’s plane.

During an event last week in New York, Ellis asked Harper about the charges laid against then-Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, even though reporters and photographers had been told questions were not allowed.

Harper leaves Thursday for a seven-day trip to Malaysia and Indonesia, and CTV had Ellis accredited to work on the assignment as a pool cameraman.

But following Ellis’s New York assignment, CTV said it was told by the PMO that Ellis would not be allowed on Harper’s plane, even though he had earlier been approved for the trip.

That has apparently changed. “No one has been barred from this trip,” MacDonald said.

CTV News spokesman Matthew Garrow said earlier Wednesday the network had nevertheless decided to send Ellis to the Ottawa airport to try to board the Prime Minister’s plane with other journalists, and that other networks were backing that decision.

All media pay full price for their transportation and lodging when travelling with the Prime Minister.

MacDonald had earlier said that CTV would be allowed to travel with Harper, but would not say specifically whether Ellis would be turned away, despite repeated requests for clarification.

“No accredited Canadian media outlet is prevented from joining us for the upcoming trip to the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Summit,” MacDonald said in an e-mail.

“To suggest otherwise is absolutely false.”

Other network members of the travelling TV pool indicated they support the CTV decision to send a cameraman who might be turned away.

“To us, it’s a very slippery slope to let the Prime Minister decide who gets on that plane and who doesn’t,” said one member of the pool who didn’t want to be identified.

“That’s why we are comfortable with CTV insisting that Dave gets to go. It’s a question of principle.”

In recent years, the three main networks – CBC, CTV and Global – have pooled resources on prime ministerial trips in order to cut costs.

Each network sends its own reporter but takes turns sending camera operators, editors and technicians. And each time, the network responsible for the pool decides which people to send, without interference from their competitors.

In Britain and Australia, there are no restrictions on asking prime ministers questions during photo ops where reporters are present.

When Harper came to power in 2006, he initiated stricter rules prohibiting journalists from posing questions at photo ops, both in Canada and abroad.

When pressing news breaks, those rules have occasionally been broken.

It’s also not the first time that the PMO has tried to dictate who can or cannot travel with the prime minister.

Canadian Press reporter Alex Panetta was told by former Harper communications staff in 2006 he would not be able to board a plane with Harper for a clandestine trip to Afghanistan after Panetta wrote that the PM was to make the visit.

Panetta ended up going on the trip – and having a private chat with Harper about politics and hockey on a return flight from Pakistan.

Last Thursday, Ellis asked one question shortly after hearing that Del Mastro had been charged by Elections Canada with several offences related to the 2008 federal election campaign.

“Any comment today, sir, about Dean Del Mastro being charged?” he asked as the photo op was ending.

The Prime Minister didn’t respond to the question and all of the journalists taking part were shuffled out of the room without incident.

Del Mastro, the MP for Peterborough, Ont., is facing four charges in connection with allegations that he exceeded his campaign spending limit and filed a false accounting of the expenses incurred to win office.

While the accusations have not been proven in court, Del Mastro resigned from the Conservative caucus and was stripped of his duties as a parliamentary secretary.

The charges are a fresh ethics embarrassment for Harper as he struggles to move beyond the Senate expenses scandal in time for a fall sitting of Parliament that begins in two weeks.

(渥太华2日加新社电) 经过一番折腾，一名资深电视摄影记者获准在本周随同总理哈珀，到马来西亚访问。周三稍早时，总理办公室似乎有意阻止CTV电视台记者Dave Ellis随行，因为他上周不听提示，在纽约媒体活动中随意讲话，向哈珀提问。

电视台力争采访机会，坚称指派谁人采访哈珀国外访问，是电视台的决定，总理办公室无从过问。

总理外访随行记者团人选有争议，消息传出后，总理发言人Jason MacDonald即说，不会阻止认可记者搭乘哈珀的专机。

哈珀上周在纽约出席圆桌会议，与商界代表开会，记者和摄影师事前得悉，那次活动不设提问时间，但埃利斯问哈珀，他对前保守党国会议员Dean Del Mastro的控罪有何看法。

安省彼得堡国会议员马斯杜，因涉不当申报竞选开支，上周被控告4项罪名。

埃利斯上周在纽约碰壁，本周另有新任务。哈珀将于周四启程，到马来西亚和印尼访问，行程总计7天，CTV电视台早已委派埃利斯为团队摄影师。CTV电视台说，埃利斯在纽约完成任务后，总理办公室告诉它，埃利斯事前获准随团采访马来西亚和印尼之行，现在不得随团外访､搭乘哈珀专机。

CTV电视台《新闻》发言人Matthew Garrow周三稍早时说，电视台决定照派埃利斯到渥太华机场，与其他记者一起登上哈珀的飞机，其他电视台都支持这个决定。

其他随行媒体成员已表态，表示支持CTV电视台的决定，派遣可能被拒绝的摄影记者。

媒体代表随同总理外访，都要自负全部开销，包括交通费和住宿费。

近年来，三大电视网加拿大广播公司(CBC)、CTV电视台和Global组成团体，采访总理国外访问，以便节约开支。