Harper takes a leaf out of Bush's book

I try not to get too political these days, but a couple of the things that Stephen Harper's Conservatives have decided in the last couple of days have caused me to get political here.

First of all today (from CBC News): "Reporters were not allowed into the military airbase at Trenton, Ont., to cover the Tuesday evening arrival of the remains of four soldiers who died in a weekend bombing. Harper said the policy has been implemented to respect the privacy of the families. "

Am I being paranoid, or does this look a little bit too much like GWB banning press coverage of the return to the States of the bodies of American GIs?

According to CBC News at least one bereaved military family believes the government has made a mistake. Maureen Burrowes, who is a cousin of Cpl. Randy Payne (one of the Canadian soldiers killed at the weekend), said the government is depriving her of her chance to be part of Tuesday night's ceremony. "I honestly believed I would see my cousin's return on CBC as I could not be present today," she wrote in an e-mail. "I really feel that our current government has made a very bad decision and voters will remember this in the next election. The timing is absolutely horrendous and I would love to know how to get this reversed."

Secondly, Harper is is also attracting criticism for reversing the previous Liberal government's practice of lowering the flag on Parliament Hill's Peace Tower to mark military deaths. The Conservatives say they are returning to the traditional protocol of honouring fallen soldiers by lowering the Peace Tower flag only on Remembrance Day.

Rick Mercer has a great take on this story here.