At a meeting of Indo-Canadians in Ottawa tonight sponsored by the Indian High Commission, the national press were invited in to cover Stephen Harper’s speech to the gathering. Then, as Michael Ignatieff was about to speak, PMO bully-boys threw the press out.

Here’s Kady O’Malley:

So apparently, after the PM spoke - which I’m sure was a lovely address - and as Ignatieff was preparing to take the stage, PMO took away the podium —- which was their property, so you know, finders keepers, I guess…… thus forcing the museum to scrounge one up so the leader of the opposition could share his thoughts on Canada’s Year of India.

…This gives a whole new meaning to “own the podium”

The cameras were hustled out during the podium hunt.

O’Malley wonders: It was a non-government event. How can they do that? Robert Fife tweets: “National media should not have allowed PMO to boot them out of a public event.”

Problem is, they did. Maybe they were afraid they’d get beaten up.

Harper’s Government™, 2011.

UPDATE: Heh. “Apologies for staff misunderstanding or overzealousness. Media should not have been asked to leave prior to Mr. Ignatieff’s remarks.”

Rein in those jihadis, Dimitri.