Stephen Harper’s haters came out in full force on Twitter on Monday, using the hashtag #PMHarperMustResign to voice their anger over the prime minister’s leadership and eventually causing the term to trend.
The 140-character comments pointed to a number of recent topics that have drawn negative attention to Harper and the Tory government, including the recent controversy involving Harper’s now-former chief of staff Nigel Wright giving Sen. Mike Duffy a $90,000 cheque to repay housing expenses. Other sources of anger included cuts to science research, rebranding the government to include Harper’s name, and Harper welcoming Chinese pandas to Canada while a First Nations group marched to Parliament.
An online statement called for the Twitter users to use the hashtag on Victoria Day and provided a list of tweets that could be circulated.
“Twitter is a powerful social media platform and focused action has and will have effect,” it said.
Other Canadian politicians caught flak via the online action as well, including Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who was accused of smoking crack cocaine on video last week -- an allegation he denied.
Predictably, as some used the hashtag to express more general complaints about Harper, several also disregarded the social media trend.
See why some Twitter users want Harper to step down.