Who #Stephen Harper follows on Twitter

Wading through thepeople Prime Minister Stephen Harper follows on hisTwitter account is like going through a laundry list of Conservative members of Parliament.

All the familiar faces are there:Employment Minister Jason Kenney, Treasury Board President Tony Clement, Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

And then there's Springfield resident Homer J. Simpson.

Yes, nestled among the very select group of people whose Twitter activities have been deemed to be important to the prime minister is the famouspatriarch from FOX TV'sThe Simpsons.(And, sorry prime minister, Homer doesn't follow you back.)

Whether Harper regularly checks in on Homers musings is anyones guess.Homerrecently tweeted that he was "taking the family to the drive-in movies tonight. But first: an hour of trunk-cramming practice."

Who doesn't like a good Homerism?

Of course, Homer's inclusion among the 223 people Harperfollows may just be an indication of the prime minister or his staff trying to appeal to a pop-culturesavvy public or to his 489,000 Twitter followers.

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"You might say 'OK, Homer Simpson, that just seems odd,'" says Mark Blevis, an Ottawa-based digital public affairs analyst.

But public figuresoften want to show "a little bit of fun, in their Twitter accounts, he says. "Andwho doesntlike a good Homerism?"

As for printmedia on the prime minister's list, only Maclean'smagazine and the National Post make the cut.

But the list of those he follows among world leaders is also interesting, perhaps particularly for those who aren't on it, including U.S. President Barack Obama, BritishPrime Minister David Cameron, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel andIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Indeed, some leaders whofollow Harper, such as Cameronand Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott,arent followed back by the Canadian prime minister.

In fact, the only foreign politician who does seem to make Harpers Twitter list is Russian Prime Minister DmitryMedvedev, (who also follows Harper), suggestingthat Harper's recent harsh rhetoric against Moscow isnot enough to sever the bonds of Twitter buddies.

"Its really interesting that the G7 nations are not in his Twitter account,"saysBlevis. "Its particularly interesting given that, especially these days, theres a lot of talk about e-diplomacy.

"Theres a lot of stuff that'sgoing on on a diplomatic track that takes place online.It would be an opportunity for him, when they make an announcement,to tweet with the other party. You could tweet with them and because youre following them, it looks like youre standing arm and arm."

While Harper's account is mostlya sea of blue, politically,former Bloc Qubcois leader Gilles Duceppeshows up.

And while the prime minister seems to want to keep tabs on the Toronto Blue Jays, the CFL and the Canadian Curling Association, the unabashed hockey fan does not follow the NHLor any NHL team.

But it's unlikely Harper has much to do with the choices ofwhom he follows.Blevissays he doesn't believe Harper is an active user of Twitter, but probably asks his staff to issue tweets on certain subjects.

"He may look at it every now and then for a lark, but I don'tthink that's his primary interest."

Harper also has the most followers among the federal party leaders (491,000), andfollows the fewest number of people (223).

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has 402,000 followers, and follows 753. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has more than 72,000 followersand follows 1,196. None of the leaders followeach other.

Elizabeth May may be at the helm of theparty with the fewest seats in the House of Commons, but the Green Party leaderfollows more people on Twitter than theother leaders do (5,500). And at90,000-plus followers, May actually has more thanthe leader of the Official Opposition.

Bill Maher, Kiefer Sutherland among those followed by Trudeau

Mostly, Canada's political leaders follow members of their own party, journalistsor associations.

Trudeaus list includes more celebrities, such as author Stephen King, Politically Incorrect hostBill Maher, actress Ellen Page, actorKiefer Sutherland, late-night host Stephen Colbert, magician Teller (but not Penn)and Star Trek icon George Takei.

Blevis notesthat Trudeau used to be completely in control of hisTwitter account, and he still believes he's responsible for the majority of what goes on there, although now, as leader of the party, he may have handedsome Twitter duties to his staff.

Meanwhile,Mulcair's account is peppered mostly with reporters, politicians,labour organizations, activists, students and other organizations, although the NDP leader does follow Obama, as does Trudeau.

"I think theyre being cautious,"Blevis says. "Theres probably a certain degree of PRonly because theres people out there looking to see who theyre following, and they dont want to send the wrong message."