Calling the prime minister "Steve," a furious N.L. Premier Danny Williams lashed out at Stephen Harper on Friday as an untrustworthy chameleon trying to pull the wool over Canadians' eyes.

Harper, speaking Thursday in the House of Commons, made a crack at Williams's expense, while brushing off a question sparked by a media report about dissension in the federal Tory ranks.

'Sounds like they're having awful rough treatment and they want it to continue,' Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
(CBC)

"The government of Newfoundland and Labrador has tabled a budget today. It involved record spending, paying down the debt and decreasing taxes," Harper said while responding to a question from Liberal MP Scott Simms.

"Sounds like a good Conservative budget to me. Also sounds like they're having awful rough treatment and they want it to continue."

In St. John's on Friday, Williams said his government — which unveiled a budget projecting a record surplus for the coming year — owed nothing to Harper's government. The major gains in the province's recent budgets are due to offshore oil wealth, as well as the Atlantic Accord negotiated with the previous Liberal government.

"His attitude of Atlantic Canada is that we're a culture of defeat," the premier said, repeating a comment Harper made in 2002 that has come back to haunt him more than once.

"He hasn't changed that. He's pretended he's changed it to the people of the country … He's a chameleon, he changes his colours and his clothes to suit whatever the political need is at the time." 

During a scrum with reporters, Williams referred to Harper as "Steve," eschewing a more formal — if not respectful — reference.

"His buddy [U.S. President] George Bush calls him Steve, so, you know, I can call him Steve. I'm not a buddy of his," Williams told reporters.

"By the same token, I have to basically treat him with the same disdain that he's treating [residents of Newfoundland and Labrador]."

Vitriolic war

Harper and Williams have been engaged in a sometimes vitriolic war of words since March, when the federal government unveiled its new equalization formula.

Contrary to a written pledge Harper made leading up to the January 2006 election, the new formula includes revenue generated from non-renewable resources. Williams, a Progressive Conservative, has encouraged voters in his province to not vote for Conservative candidates in the next federal election.

While Newfoundland and Labrador is projecting record wealth from offshore resources, it is also anxious about changes to equalization.

An independent analysis by Memorial University economist Wade Locke determined that the new formula will see Newfoundland and Labrador lose $1 billion from the previous formula over the next dozen years.

If Harper's 2006 commitment had been maintained, Locke found, the province would have received $11 billion more than is now forecast.

Simms asks about dissension among Atlantic MPs

Simms, who had asked Harper on Thursday to comment on a Radio-Canada report about pressure from Atlantic Canadian MPs over the federal budget, hit back after the prime minister's comments on Thursday.

"The last thing the Conservatives did was break their promise. That is what the government prides itself on doing," Simms said.

Responding to Simms's followup question, Diane Ablonczy, the parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, brushed over concerns about dissension in federal Tory ranks.

"The fact is this is a good budget for Canada, a good budget for Newfoundland and Labrador, and we are proud to support it," she said.