A member of the Canadian Alliance's governing council resigned on Tuesday for saying publicly that people in the Maritimes prefer handouts to hard work.

Pollster John Mykytyshyn offered his resignation after party officials told him his comments were unacceptable.

Mykytyshyn - with his bald head and goatee - is hard to miss at meetings of the Canadian Alliance. But it's his views on the work ethic of East Coast Canadians that thrust the party's pollster into to the public eye.

John Mykytyshyn

Mykytyshyn told a conference in Vancouver that the Canadian Alliance will succeed in every region except the Maritimes - comments recorded by a person at the meeting. "Eastern provinces believe in handouts," he is heard saying, "and 'Give me a cheque for doing nothing.' They don't want to do what all of our ancestors did, which is work hard for a living and go to where the jobs are."

Mykytyhsyn apologized for the remarks, but not until Alliance leader Stockwell Day and other politicians condemned them.

Day announced Mykytyshyn's resignation while in Toronto, quickly moving to diffuse an embarrassing gaffe that hurts his efforts to portray the Alliance as having an agenda of respect.

Stockwell Day

"Obviously the decision he has made will serve him well and will serve the Canadian Alliance well. And I'm pleased the way things turned out," said Day.

No doubt Day's political opponents are pleased, too. It gives them an opening to attack the Alliance, even if Day insists the matter is now closed.