Series consists of records created or maintained by staff in the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) - Communications unit (sometimes shortened to "Comms") under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
According to internal training documents drafted in 2009 and 2010, the communications unit was the main point of contact between the PMO and the media. Among other things, the unit was tasked with pushing the government's message to the Canadian public through media outlets; with organizing media appearances by the Prime Minister and other ministers; with replying to media queries; and with working alongside communications departments contained within government ministries and agencies to establish a unified message. At times, communications functions within the PMO also appear to have been further subdivided into closely related areas titled "Strategic Communications" and "Media Relations." Whereas the role of "Strategic Communications" would be to develop unified messaging, to draft communications products, and to plan communications tactics; the role of "Communications" was to push information products to the media; and the role of "Media Relations" was to manage media interactions (often in tandem with other areas of PMO Communications and the PMO Issues Management unit).
The series comprises 5 sub-series. The "Official social media and online presence" sub-series consists of records documenting the online presence of Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper during his time in office (2006-2015). It contains records related to major social media and photo and video sharing platforms used by Mr. Harper while serving as Prime Minister: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Podcasts, and YouTube.
The "Official audiovisual recordings" sub-series consists of digital audiovisual recordings documenting the Rt. Hon. Stephen J. Harper's public appearances between 2006 and 2015. It contains audio and video recordings of over 3,000 public addresses delivered by Stephen J. Harper, including speeches, press conferences, photoshoots, bilateral meetings, interviews, scrums, question periods, official meetings, and political announcements. The recordings also cover the federal election campaigns.
The "Media monitoring" sub-series contains media monitoring reports (with some associated news clippings or audio-video products) and lists of suggested event or announcement venues in various regions of Canada.
The "Communications teams (PMO-CMM)" sub-series consists of active, semi-active, and inactive (internally archived) communications records, often in draft form. The records had been stored on a shared Prime Minister's Office (PMO) computer network drive (designated "PMO-Common") in top-level folders titled "PMO-CMM" and "Comm." Included within the sub-series are files documenting the 2004 and 2006 federal election campaigns; speeches delivered by Stephen Harper; records created or accumulated during the Conservative government's first minority mandate; active or semi-active records arranged within digital folders based on subject or document type; active or semi-active records arranged within digital folders bearing the names of individual Communications unit staff members; and active or semi-active records associated with the PMO Communications unit "Bullpen."
The "Media Relations" sub-series consists of active or semi-active records (subject files and staff working files) that had been stored on a shared Prime Minister's Office computer network drive (designated "PMO-Common") in a top-level "Media Relations" folder.
