Canada election 2015: Ben and Rachel Harper playing bigger role

Stephen Harper's re-election campaign has given the public daily sightings of two people he used to shield from the spotlight: his kids.

Unlike past campaigns, Ben and Rachel Harper have already been front and centre at the Conservative leader's events alongside their mother Laureen.

Over the first three days of the campaign, rally-goers and journalists have had repeated opportunities to see his family together as a unit.

Ben, who's now in university, and Rachel, a high school student, have already shaken hands with party supporters and listened to one of their father's stump speeches from the front row.

Harper proudly introduced his clan as he took the stage at a whistle-stop rally Monday in Kingston, Ont.

"I just want to say that Laureen, Ben, Rachel and I are all delighted to be here in Kingston," he said.

"It's wonderful. Of course, this is where my son's going to university, so he's used to being here quite a bit now."

New prominence

On Tuesday, the children even shopped for fried chicken with their folks during a grocery-store photo op.

"These are my kids," Laureen Harper told aclerk at Toronto supermarket as news cameras zoomed in. Then Harper's wife joked: "This is our vacation. Otherwise we won't see them."

It's not uncommon for politicians to bring their families to partisan events, but Ben and Rachel's prominence in the campaign so far marks a shift for a prime minister who has worked hard to keep his personal life private.

Nor could Ben and Rachel's presence hurt for Harper, who's in a tight three-way race against charismatic Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, who's fond of talking about his family-values upbringing.

Asked about the new prominence of the Harper kids, Conservative spokesman Kory Teneycke said Tuesday there's no political motive behind the Harpers' decision to bring them out more frequently on the campaign trail.

Teneycke also expressed doubts that Trudeau, who has appeared at public political events with his own young family, would ever parade his loved ones in public for political reasons.

"Every leader and every family will make whatever decisions they do around that, but we'd be the last people to read politics into that for any of the leaders," Teneycke said.

Harper's kids are no strangers to campaign politics.

"His children are older now than they were in those other [campaigns], so I guess there's a slight difference in that," Teneycke said of Ben and Rachel, who were 10 and seven respectively when Harper moved into 24 Sussex Dr. in 2006.

"They're there to support their dad, but they're not public figures and don't really talk to the media. There's a difference between one's public life and one's private life.

"So, we don't really talk about that much, out of respect for that distinction."

At the grocery store, Ben and Rachel each sported blue Conservative party jackets with "Harper 2015" stitched on the sleeves.

Harper joined the rest of his family at the display case after shaking hands with customers as he made his way through the store.

And despite the intense scrutiny of the journalists who were on hand, the exchange seemed to offer a rare glimpse into the Harper family dynamic.

Harper asked his kids if they wanted chicken wings and Rachel nodded in approval.

"And a little bit of fries as well," said Harper, well aware of the nearby news microphones and cameras.

He then looked up at the journalists and joked: "My unhealthy eating continues."

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