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Harper and Williams turn the sod, if not the hatchet
It was all smiles this morning when Prime Minister Stephen Harper took part in the official sod-turning for the new $100-million Canadian Forces Station St. John’s.
At the prime minister’s side? Premier Danny Williams, who only a couple of years ago was doing pretty much everything he could to keep Harper from doing well in that fall’s federal election.
One of the victims of Williams’s ABC campaign, of course, was Fabian Manning, then an MP and now a senator. As you can see from Manning’s grin above, things were ostensibly on a positive note this morning in Pleasantville.
A nod to our colleague Azzo Rezori, who started a question to the prime minister with a note that fall temperatures were cooling but the world’s temperatures were rising. “How would you describe the climate of your relationship with Premier Danny Williams?”
Harper’s response (which is included in the video below) was measured, although at least he looked like he wanted to burst out laughing.
“I’ve never thought of it in terms of climactic analogies,” Harper said. “Let me just say I’ve always said Newfoundland and Labrador is a very important part of his country.”
Harper took time to note that Premier Danny Williams is “a very competent Conservative leader” that he supports, even though his party doesn’t have seats in the province. Then, the two apparently former adversaries went outside and dug their shovels into the ground.
Still, we all noticed that Williams almost couldn’t help but make a bit of a dig about his often-troubled relationship with the prime minister during the Igor benefit concert on Friday night.
“Try getting in a chopper with Stephen Harper,” Williams said, alluding to what it took to get two beer-distributing rivals on the same stage, as well as his visit to Trouty with the PM after Igor ripped it apart.
But, to be fair, the premier added: “Sometimes we have to make sacrifices in the interests of Newfoundland and Labrador, and I got to tell you, it worked out very well. So, it was a good day, to be honest with you.”
Interesting times, no?
