(06-9-2007) Meet Bono? I'm not interested, says PM*

[Anu]

Meet Bono? I'm not interested, says PM


HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (Reuters) - You can stop staring hopefully at that phone, Bono. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be calling.

The Irish rock star turned poverty activist met U.S. President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit but was told Harper was too busy to talk to him.

Harper, a somewhat wooden figure regularly mocked for his lack of flair, told reporters Thursday that meeting Bono was not a priority.

"I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't kind of my shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy," said Harper in a dig at his Liberal predecessor Paul Martin, who met Bono regularly.

"I hope we do it at some point but my principle focus in public policies is not kind of to meet celebrities," added the prime minister, a Conservative.

Activists say Canada is trying to block a deal to ensure that western nations live up to promises to boost aid to Africa.

For the record, though, Harper said he liked the music of Bono's band U2.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070608/od_nm/g8_summit_canada_dc_2;_ylt=AnlK4bUB9jCR7lIkqoDVSLIE1vAI

 

[whitehead]

What a wanker!

"...not a priority." ???? Bono is not a celebrity in this case but rather a representative!

 

[financeguy]

Refreshingly robust.

I approve of Harper, seems to be doing a good job.

 

[anitram]

I approve of Harper, seems to be doing a good job.

Which policies, specifically, do you think he's doing a good job on?

 

[financeguy]

Which policies, specifically, do you think he's doing a good job on?

I was joking.

 

[irishdove]

I can see this guy has missed the point. He thinks meeting with Bono is "meeting with a celebrity". He seems to be unaware of the issues that Bono would be talking to him about

 

[gareth brown]

was that sarcastic too?

 

[irishdove]

I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm surprised that the PM of Canada would look at Bono like a celebrity only, and not realize the work that Bono has been doing. If he is aware, he certainly doesn't sound like it.

 

[DaveC]

Harper, a somewhat wooden figure regularly mocked for his lack of flair

 

[RavenBlue]

And his unmoving hair

What a dork! Meet with Bono you arse. Bono the activist, not Bono the celebrity if you want to put it that way!

 

[girlwcrimsonnls]

and this guy has a minority government? *shocked*

 

[Zoomerang96]

every fucking celebrity has a pet cause.

i don't like harper, but i probably find bono even more annoying when it comes to him being an activist. i'm sure he's got great intentions, but so what. pass the mantle onto someone else.

 

[Diane L]

One of the extremely few things the current President of the U.S. gets right is his willingness to meet with Bono.

Canada, you have my sympathies. What an a**hole.

 

[Zoomerang96]

that's ridiculous

how is it "right" to meet with bono?

if leaders want to meet with him, fine, that's great. but so what if they don't?

 

[Yahweh]

He wont ever want to meet with Bono, this is no shock to me. The one thing I can say though is at least hes come out and said he doesnt want to meet with Bono. There are other leaders in this world, the majority of them infact that have met with Bono and after meeting with Bono done absolutely nothing to help his cause, so at least hes honest and says he doesnt want to meet.

 

[Slipstream]

"told reporters Thursday that meeting Bono was not a priority."

"I hope we do it at some point"

He hasn't ruled out meeting him. He's the PM of Canada and was at a G8 conference. Regardless what Bush and the Chancellor do with their time, it wasn't on Harper's agenda and he's perfectly entitled to that.

 

[forbonou2]

Well...i certainly hope he finds the time to meet with Bono and finds he is persistent in his new job role!! Bono Will have him coming away from that meeting doing more than singing U2 songs! Get 'em Bono!!

 

[~BrightestStar~]

Harper didn't just blow off Bono, he also blew off the press (and thus, by extension, the canadian public).
It wasn't until the reporters who were with him practically blew a gasket that he finally held a press conference.
Anyone knows who knows me, knows how I feel about Bush, but even he had press releases everyday.

I wouldn't be surprised if Harper did it simply as another act to say, "see, look at me, see how different I am from the sucky liberals?"

 

[julianamendoza]

this doesn't surprise me at all.. it's not the first time Harper turns down this good cause... I remember b4 the canadian elections the one campaign held a debate with the candidates and harper's party simply didn't show up!! they were all very dissapointed.

THen again, at the aids international meeting in toronto, 2006 i think... same thing, he chose not show up again, he said he was too busy with important matters, and they showed him on the news at the north pole doing nothing with like four more people.. -he was just hiding from the AIDS subjects because it scares him-

 

[~BrightestStar~]

Oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that. Way to go Harper, you rock!

 

[BonoVOX40]

Canada can't do much for the world anyways eh? so why does it matter? Sort of a waste of Bono's time.......to all you Canadians...I was totally kidding...Seems to be a lot of sarcasm in here...

 

[verte76]

What a jerk. Bono is a representative, not just a celebrity.

 

[BostonAnne]

every fucking celebrity has a pet cause.

i don't like harper, but i probably find bono even more annoying when it comes to him being an activist. i'm sure he's got great intentions, but so what. pass the mantle onto someone else.