The Opposition leader has been banished to an airport hangar. The TV cameras are being kept away from Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean. And the involvement of cabinet ministers remains a state secret.
The logistical arrangements for Barack Obama's Canadian visit have relegated all Canadian actors to the sidelines save for one: Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The Prime Minister's Office provided long-awaited logistical details Tuesday for the U.S. president's visit.
That briefing session suggests Harper will seek to establish close personal ties with the popular new president - and to make sure it gets noticed by Canadians.
The prime minister's spokespeople spent nearly as much time Tuesday pointing out personal similarities between the two leaders as they did discussing the issues to be raised Thursday.
"They really, at a basic level, have quite a bit in common," said Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke.
"They're similar in age, both have young families, they're both policy-focused intellectuals. Neither has been in elected office for a long time, when they became president and prime minister, respectively.
"And they both come from outside the political establishment."
While the White House offered a half-hour briefing Tuesday that focused almost exclusively on the subjects to be raised, Canadian officials remained tight-lipped.
However, they did reveal that:
-The names of any other Canadians present for Harper's meeting with Obama would be confidential.
The PMO didn't budge when told that the White House had disclosed that some Canadian cabinet ministers would be present, in addition to providing a detailed list of U.S. officials who would be in the room.
"We're not releasing the names of officials," Teneycke said.
-No TV cameras, audio equipment, or reporters will be permitted in the airport lounge where the president will meet with Jean for 15 minutes.
When asked why the event would be restricted to still cameras alone, Teneycke replied: "That's a decision that has been made. . . . We can waste time by asking questions, but it won't change the answer."
Officials at Rideau Hall appeared unaware late Tuesday that such a decision had been taken.
-Footage of Obama's meeting with Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff will not be easily attainable.
The meeting will take place at the military airport hangar where Obama will be arriving, and access to that spot will require grabbing a shuttle bus hours before the session.
Teneycke said the Prime Minister's Office has no problem with the president meeting the Opposition leader. He noted that ex-president George W. Bush met with Harper when he was Opposition leader.
Unlike this airport encounter, that 2004 meeting took place in Parliament's main building.
A Liberal official says the schedule has been co-ordinated by the Prime Minister's Office, and that it keeps changing.
The Liberal said Ignatieff was originally supposed to get 30 minutes with the president, but that was whittled down to 20 minutes and, finally, 15 minutes.
Ignatieff has been a close friend and colleague to Obama's most senior economic and foreign-policy advisers.
"Where the meeting between Mr. Ignatieff and President Obama takes place doesn't matter," said Liberal spokeswoman Jill Fairbrother.
"What matters is that they get the opportunity to have an important conversation."
Other details were laid down Tuesday in the PMO briefing.
The prime minister will meet with Obama alone, for 10 minutes, in Harper's Centre Block office before officials enter the room. That larger group will also have a working lunch on Parliament Hill, followed by a Harper-Obama press conference.
The leaders will take four questions - two from each country's media - and then walk together to Parliament's elegant old library.
There was a final logistical concern.
Harper's spokespeople threatened to cancel the press conference if, at any point in the day, a Canadian reporter shouts out a question without being invited to do so.
White House reporters habitually bark out queries during photo opportunities with the president.
But nobody had better dare pulling such a stunt in Harper's office.
"If you do (ask a question), the photo op will immediately cease," Teneycke said.
"And I think the remainder of the day will be . . . I'll choose my words carefully on this: it would be very ill-advised, given that there's a press conference later."
When asked whether such a punishment would also apply to American visitors, Teneycke replied: "I'm not going to get into that."
