On permanent brands

Perhaps the most telling part of today's story on permanent self-promotion for the Cons is the source of the request for a program to administer the strategy:

Those temporary Economic Action Plan signs promoting federal stimulus projects have proved so popular with Conservative cabinet ministers that some want to make them permanent.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press reveal that a formal recommendation for a "permanent signage" program went to Prime Minister Stephen Harper last Dec. 17 — at the request of his ministers.

"Interest has been expressed by Ministers in the placement of permanent signage at selected, completed Economic Action Plan (EAP) project sites," says the opening line of a 12-page memo to the prime minister dated Dec. 17, 2010.

"If you agree, we will work with departments and your Office to ensure implementation of the guidelines."

Now, the fact that the ministers involved aren't apparently named in the recommendation should make for a rather interesting set of follow-up questions as to who exactly put the idea forward - and whether anybody among the Cons disagrees with it.

But either way, it seems fairly clear that as thoroughly as Harper has clamped down on his party, he's been far from the only one looking to wring the maximum possible political advantage from every public dollar supposedly intended to stimulate Canada's economy. And even if the centrally-controlled signage was only temporary, the blight on the Cons from their politically-motivated stimulus distribution and promotion looks to be permanent.