Today's buzz: Motherhood and the economy

Kim Covert, Canwest News Service
Canwest News Service

Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off his federal election campaign on September 8 at the residence of the Wang family in Richmond, B.C. Harper may be returning to the persona of the homey family man he created at the beginning of the campaign. (Sam Leung/Canwest News Service)

The buzz: The economy has become a motherhood issue. In a TV interview and in speeches on Tuesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper mentioned that his mom, who is at 24 Sussex Drive looking after the kids during the campaign, is a retired person and watching her portfolio hour by hour, as many Canadians are. He said he hears about the economy from her daily - "I get it every night."     

On the campaign trail Wednesday, Harper was asked why he was suddenly talking about his mother's stock concerns.     

"We're getting this criticism that somehow I don't understand the stock market, or I don't understand what people are feeling about the stock market. I use my mother as an obvious example because she's the person closest to me who's most worried about the stock market these days. And believe me, I get quicker updates from her on the stock market then I do from the Department of Finance."

The background: As the global financial crisis widens and worsens, Harper has come under increasing criticism for being out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Canadians who are watching the markets fall and seeing the value leak out of their retirement savings; or worry about how they'll hold on to their homes or feed their families if they lose their jobs. He has been lambasted by critics from all sides for not taking more obvious steps to deal with the problem.

The explanation: By invoking his retired mother, Harper could be attempting to revisit the persona created at the beginning of the campaign with his infamous sweater-vest ads, the homey family man with homey family concerns. His parents, he said, worked hard and saved in order to build better lives for their children, and that's what his government is trying to do. "The biggest thing I've learned from my parents is the most important thing about a crisis is first of all try to avoid it, (but also) have a plan way in advance."     

Harper also said earlier in the day that the Conservatives are responding like ordinary Canadians who don't play "high-stakes games" in the stock market. "They don't rush out and pretend they win the lottery if the market goes up and they don't panic if the market goes down. We think more like ordinary people because we're in this for the long term."