Canadian Prime Minister Renames Government After Himself

"You gotta admit it's catchy!"

Forget everything you know about the Government of Canada. (We'll wait.) Forgotten? Good, because CBC News reports that the Government of Canada has been officially renamed "The Harper Government" by Prime Minister/re-branding expert Stephen Harper. All official communiqué have been ordered to use the new title because, well, Stephen Harper loves him some Stephen Harper.

CBC News reports that civil servants have been ordered to make the change in order to build up Stephen Harper's image. Unsurprisingly, this has backfired:

"It's not Stephen Harper's government, it's the goverment of all Canadians," Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc told CBC News. "You'd expect this kind of directive to be issued by the ministry of information in North Korea."
...
Dimitri Soudas, Harper's spokesman, said in an email that the style "is a long-standing practice that accurately reflects the government's leadership, regardless of who is prime minister."

Megalomaniacal? Yep. Autocratic? You bet. Downright Gaddafian? Maybe.

Despite these criticisms, we kind of like the move. Our neighbo[u]rs to the north have always been the quiet little brother who stays in on weekends and does his homework (while also receiving free health care while bitchin' big bro America is denied treatment for yet another T-shirt cannon-related injury). It's nice to see him get a little crazy every now and then.

You can picture Stephen Harper taking his firstborn son to the top of the CN Tower and holding him aloft, promising that one day, "This will all be yours; from sea to sea, Tim Hortons to Tim Hortons."

A rebranding of the 'Harper Government' [CBC via BoingBoing]