Harper Not Taking any Chances

The Harper government certainly wants to ensure that they do not lose more public support. They are taking out radio and newspaper ads Tuesday to say that Ottawa never broke its promise, and that Danny Williams wants a special deal which would be unfair to other provinces. Perhaps the Harper government realizes that the 21 Conservative seats in NL, Sasketchewan and the other Atlantic provinces, can make a difference in getting a majority in the next election. Or, he is trying to dissuade voters in general from voting for Layton and Dion, or he is turning the tables on Danny to paint him and/or Newfoundland and Labrador as greedy and being out of line in his demands. In any case it is an acknowledgement that yes, we do exist. I guess the image as a promise breaker is getting a tad worrisome.

There was a CTV interview with Premier Williams on Saturday in which he said that it was the long term potential benefits to the province that was in question, not the Atlantic Accord as it is. However, the Harper government line is that no promise was broken, which refers to the Atlantic Accord being untouched till 2012, or 2020. But that time frame is not what is in contention - correct me if this is not the case. So if the ads approach is to tell the public that Premier Williams' asserts that an Atlantic Accord promise has been broken, then that would be a misleading advertisement by Harper's government. The Atlantic Accord stays the same at least till 2012, that is not what Williams is arguing against. If the Conservative ads are informing the public this way, it would amount to the same level of honesty the anti-sealing propaganda offers each year, and that is malicious.

Equalization Promise Not So Promising

If Sasketchewan Premier Lorne Calvert knew PM Harper was coming today he may have baked a wheat cake. Harper announced $1 billion worth of farm aid for Sasketchewan, but as Calvert said later on CTV news, the announcement was hastily arranged and members of his party did not know what was going to be announced. He was disappointed at the way this news was orchestrated, and said, Typically there is some discussion with farmers, and farm groups. He added that he had little detail of where the dollars were going to flow, and warned MPs were going to be held accountable if Harper's equalization promise was not kept.

At the press conference reporters asked Harper about equalization but he had little to say, except that the answer is coming soon. For weeks it's been bandied about that 50% of non-renewables would be removed from the new equalization formula. Sasketchewan has also made it known last year that there might be a political price to pay for reneging on that promise. In August, 2006, Saskatchewan Conservative caucus chair Brian Fitzpatrick wrote that it will cause no end of political difficulty in the next election.

The Sasketchewan Conservatives campaigned on the promise to exempt non-renewables, and they ended up with 12 out of 14 federal seats. It will be interesting to see if Harper has any other surprises in the budget on equalization, and if Danny and Lorne will really attempt to form an east-west political grid.