This sub-sub-series contains digital records related to the YouTube channels of Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper and the government's Economic Action Plan, each account in both official languages. These were used by the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) to publish promotional videos of the Prime Minister and the government's EAP.
PMO and the Office of the Privy Council (PCO) jointly managed the accounts. PMO was responsible for producing the audiovisual records posted on the YouTube channels, which often originated from content generated by the Prime Minister's official photographers. PCO was then responsible for managing, posting, and updating the videos on the social media platform. In some cases, PCO communications staff also recorded some videos that were posted online. From February 2006 to August 2015, approximately 1,630 videos were published on the four YouTube channels. They appear in their original chronological order according to the date of publication.
The videos published on the Prime Minister's YouTube channels evolved over time. Initially, unedited videos were posted on both channels (English and French) to highlight his speeches in the House of Commons and other significant announcements by the government. By the end of 2006 and for the rest of his time in office, PMO began producing specific edited audiovisual recordings for YouTube that could be shared as promotional material on the social media platform.
PMO's Communications unit's edited videos usually start with a generic video clip. They are of shorter duration and lower video quality. The edited videos feature various public addresses by the Prime Minister, such as speeches, press conferences, photoshoots, bilateral meetings, interviews, scrums, question periods, foreign visits, official meetings, and political announcements.
Between 2014 and 2015, the Communications unit started the "24-SEVEN Newsroom" project, which aimed to present the daily work of the PM. These comprise of over 200 exclusive footage taken by PMO employees and the Official Photographers. They featured weekly updates, speeches, announcements, interviews, and "breaking news". PMO also used the Prime Minister's YouTube channels to post government publicity primarily related to national ceremonies honouring Canadian soldiers.
The videos published on the YouTube channels of the Economic Action Plan (EAP) highlighted the economic measures instituted by the Harper government to stimulate the Canadian economy between 2011 and 2015.
An extensive list of videos posted on each YouTube channel, can be found in the "YouTube Administrative files" of this sub-sub-series. It contains the titles, the release dates, and a short description provided by the creators of all the published content.
The archivists tried to preserve the original titles as much as possible, but some modifications were made to ensure an accurate description and additional context were included.
The records contains some duplication between the English and the French channels, in which case the archivists described one while stating in its description that it was published on both YouTube channels.
