Page protests Harper government on Senate floor

OTTAWA - A protest momentarily disrupted the ceremony surrounding the Harper government's first throne speech under a majority mandate. A lone female protester _ dressed in a Senate page's uniform _ quietly walked to the centre of the upper chamber, and held up a red sign reading ``Stop Harper.''

The governor general didn't flinch as he continued to read the speech during the silent protest. The young woman was escorted out of the Senate without a fuss.

A few minutes later, reporters received an email from a woman claiming that she was a Senate page, but saying she could no longer stand by and watch the Harper Conservatives carry out their agenda.

The statement quoted 21-year-old Brigette Marcelle, calling Harper's agenda disastrous for the country and for her generation. However, a check of Senate page names online, accompanying their pictures, identifies the woman as Brigette DePape.

And a Twitter post from Senator Mobina Jaffer indicates the woman was a page familiar to her and her colleagues. In the speech itself the new majority Conservative government promised to focus on the economy and kill the long-gun registry and the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly.