Harper looks for support in Atlantic Canada
Last Updated: Monday, January 16, 2006 | 8:07 PM ET
CBC News
In a speech that contained no new policy announcements, Harper told about 200 supporters in Saint John that his party was set to benefit from voters' anger over the various scandals that have hit the Liberals.
"Let's pledge to the people of Canada, not that we will be perfect, but that we will deal with problems before they become scandals and that we will always try and do the right thing," Harper said.
Harper was in Saint John on Monday, his third campaign stop in New Brunswick, to garner support in a region where he hasn't seen much in the past. The Tories won only two of 10 seats in the province in 2004.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Monday.
The Conservatives, Harper contended, are the party that best reflects Canadian values, a shot at the rhetorical ground Liberal Leader Paul Martin has tried to stake out.
Harper said his campaign is based on hope, not fear, and his support in Quebec is on the rise because he offers a positive alternative to either the Liberals or the Bloc Québécois.
He said he refuses to be drawn into an "endless, pointless debate between a government that uses support for federalism as an excuse for corruption and an opposition that uses corruption as a rationale for keeping separatists in a Parliament they promise to leave."
Harper's morning speech hit on the main policy points he laid out earlier in the campaign – cutting the GST, providing support for families with young children and ridding federal politics of corruption.
"If Canadians believe their national government will mismanage waste and even steal your money, then how can our national government be a positive force in our lives?" Harper said.
"René Lévesque may have been a separatist, but he cleaned up politics in Quebec for good. I will do everything in my power to clean up politics in Ottawa for good."
Part of the Conservative plan for cleaning up politics, Harper said, was to bring more integrity to the system of government by reforming the Senate and setting fixed election dates.
"A system with democratic integrity is one in which all of those who sit in the Parliament of Canada in the future, including senators, will be elected by the people they represent," he said.
Harper also shurgged off Liberal attacks on his platform that its promises have not been fully costed and will lead to program cuts and user fees.
In the last election, Harper was dogged by reports that he had described Atlantic Canadians as having a "culture of defeat." But Harper says he's putting that comment behind him.
"In the past I've said things that were wrongly interpreted and that was my fault. I think we've been able to communicate to Atlantic Canadians the concrete measures we're going to make for them and the rest of the country," Harper said.
New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord said that a government of Harper's Conservatives would be better for the provinces than the Liberals have been.
Lord told the crowd of about 200 that Harper would be the catalyst for a "new federalism" that would end the alienation of the provinces by Ottawa.
"We want New Brunswick to be at the table with Stephen Harper," Lord said.
At a campaign stop in Charlottetown, Harper said it's time for a change.
"PEI hasn't elected a Conservative MP in over 20 years. Electing one party for too long makes for being taken for granted. We need islanders on the inside of a new government."
