The prime minister's non-speaking engagement

You may have heard by now that the prime minister is in Copenhagen for the leader's summit at the United Nations conference on climate change.

Today dozens of heads of state spoke.

Including, in no particular order: Gordon Brown (prime minister of the United Kingdom), Kevin Rudd (prime minister of Australia), Nicolas Sarkozy (president of France).

U.S. President Obama is expected to speak tomorrow.

But no sign of Stephen Harper. Well, no sounds from him anyway.

He's reportedly been meeting with officials. And he will be at the plenary session and lunch tomorrow.

Instead of speaking himself, he asked Canada's Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, to do the talking.

Prentice explained the decision this way: "Harper asked me to do it because I have been active in negotiations for the past year."

While it is true that other governments decided to allow ministers to speak, Harper's decision to let his minister speak for Canada is being interpreted by some as an attempt to avoid the criticism that has been directed at Canada for much of the past two weeks.

And perhaps, as a sign that the Prime Minister's Office is just a wee bit sensitive about all of this, they sent out a note to reporters listing all that Harper has done since he arrived in Denmark, who he has met, and what he plans to do next. They also point out that Japan, Russia and Italy are all being represented by ministers, and not heads of government.