Tory vote best hope for national unity, Harper says
Last Updated: Saturday, January 14, 2006 | 3:21 PM ET
CBC News
The Conservative leader said re-electing a Liberal government would play into the hands of sovereigntists in Quebec who are angry over the sponsorship scandal.
"The Bloc Québécois is in its present level of popularity largely the creation of federal Liberal corruption. So every vote for the Liberal party drives people to the Bloc Québécois," the Conservative leader said.
"Every vote for the Conservative party is pulling people from the Bloc Québécois and pulling people towards a new government that can unite the country and break down the polarization of the debate in Quebec."
Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen Teskey arrive at a campaign rally in Huntsville, Ont., Saturday. (CP Photo)
Harper also commented on Liberal advertisements, saying they have hurt Paul Martin's campaign.
"I mean, when you're running an ad campaign that everybody, including your own people, are either outraged about or making fun of, I don't think that's a good advertising campaign. "
One of the ads vilifying the Conservatives, claiming Harper's party would put "soldiers with guns" in Canadian cities was withdrawn before it aired on television.
"Some of the charges in these ads are so absurd, so over-the-top and so counter-factual, frankly I don't know how they get some of this past the broadcast arbitrators. But I guess that's for them to explain," Harper said.
Harper made his statement on unity in English, later prompting a francophone reporter to ask why he didn't also deliver his sales pitch in French.
The Conservative leader said he was speaking to a "completely anglophone community" and that he tries to match his speeches with the crowd he's addressing. He said French would be included in the speech he planned to make during his next stop, in North Bay, Ont.
