Renaming Calgary airport after Stephen Harper or not sparks duelling petitions - Action News
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Renaming Calgary airport after Stephen Harper or not sparks duelling petitions

An online petition gathers steam calling for Calgary International Airport to be renamed after outgoing prime minister Stephen Harper but a rival petition opposing the move garners even more support.

Thousands of Canadians add their names to either side of hypothetical debate

The pro-Harper-airport petition had 3,416 supporters as of Tuesday afternoon while the anti-Harper-airport petition had 6,361. (thepetitionsite.com/Screenshot)

If election night didn't offer up enough political drama, now you can follow another race involving Stephen Harper.

An online petition is gathering steam, calling on the Calgary International Airport to be renamed after thesoon-to-be-former prime minister.

But a rival petition has garnered, to date, even more support this one calling for the airport to not be renamed after Harper.

Who will win? Time will tell.

Does it matter? Probably not.

The petitions are, of course, completely non-binding and, even as an expression of public sentiment, they're somewhat dubious.

Questionable signatories

Among the names on the pro-Harper side, for example, is one person who signed as "Stephen Harper."

Others have signed the pro-Harper petition but added virulently anti-Harper messages.

Many of the supporterson both sides arealso anonymous.

"Harper was a great Prime Minister!" wrote "Name not displayed, AB."

A signatory to the anti-Harper petition, meanwhile, suggested a slightly differentmoniker andacronym should the re-naming go ahead.

"Stephen Harper International Terminal," wrote "Namenot displayed,ON."

#HarperAirport

Twitter, of course, had a field day with the whole thing.

The #HarperAirport was trending in Calgary and across Canada.

Here's a flavour of some of the response: