Harper heads east to win back Atlantic support

by BRIAN LAGHI AND JANE TABER — August 1, 2007

Stephen Harper will use a critical planning meeting with his Tory caucus this week to mend fences with Atlantic Canada by making a special side visit to New Brunswick and stopping over in the riding of his harried regional lieutenant.OTTAWA, CHARLOTTETOWN -- Stephen Harper will use a critical planning meeting with his Tory caucus this week to mend fences with Atlantic Canada by making a special side visit to New Brunswick and stopping over in the riding of his harried regional lieutenant.

The visits will take place at the end of the party's annual summer caucus, which begins today in Charlottetown. Mr. Harper will attend a barbecue in Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay's riding of Central Nova on Friday night and meet with business leaders in Moncton, an area where the Conservatives feel they have hopes of winning seats.

"In Nova Scotia you can try to stop the bleeding, but the leg is cut off in Newfoundland," said a senior Atlantic Canadian Conservative. "New Brunswick is really the only place where he can show potential pickup."

The caucus meeting comes after a torrent of springtime criticism from the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia, whose premiers have accused Mr. Harper of breaking his promises on the national equalization program.

The Tories believe they can become competitive in at least four more New Brunswick constituencies.

The Charlottetown portion of the meeting is, in part, aimed at developing a new agenda for the party for the fall session.

The past few months have also seen growing speculation that Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor may be dropped from his portfolio because of controversies such as the torture of Afghan detainees and public inconsistencies between himself and the Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier.

Officials are also not ruling out a Throne Speech for the fall. The scenario, outlined by some MPs, would involve pushing back the scheduled Sept. 17 return to some time after the Ontario election, set for Oct. 10.

Some Conservatives also want the party to get back to core values.

Earlier this week, University of Calgary political science professor Tom Flanagan, a close adviser to Mr. Harper, suggested the Tories return to "an agenda which is consistent with the Conservative party," rather than focusing on playing defence on traditionally weak Tory areas, such as the environment.

"... You know there's sword and shield in policy, and we've been doing a lot of shield stuff this last six months, which had to be done, but we're not going to win by being the greenest party," he told CTV's Question Period.

"We're going to win by being the party of tax cuts and criminal justice and strong national defence."

Another Conservative said the government must work to win over Atlantic Canadians, because all seats are critical to a potential Tory majority.

"We still have our troubles in the region but showing up shows you are not afraid to [face] them," said the official.

A political scientist said Mr. Harper might do himself more good in Nova Scotia if he gets out of Mr. MacKay's largely rural riding and takes a stroll on the Halifax waterfront.

"I think if Harper really wanted to reach out, he should do the boardwalk here in Halifax," said Edna Keeble of Saint Mary's University.

Dr. Keeble said that, although she believes Mr. MacKay is probably safe in his home riding, the Foreign Affairs Minister may have to curtail his campaigning in other parts of Atlantic Canada because of difficulties sparked by the equalization deal.

She added that many Atlantic Canadians remember the controversy touched off by Mr. Harper when he said the region is characterized by a culture of defeat.

Some MPs said they also want to see their government find ways to get its agenda through the House of Commons. Mr. Flanagan has suggested attaching more confidence votes to legislation to tell the opposition that there will be a steep price to pay for blocking it.

But other MPs and strategists were not as keen on the idea.

"Tom always has interesting analysis," said a senior Tory official. "[But] I'm hoping we're going to step back a little bit and work more co-operatively on files."

Stephen Harper will use a critical planning meeting with his Tory caucus this week to mend fences with Atlantic Canada by making a special side visit to New Brunswick and stopping over in the riding of his harried regional lieutenant.

Source:The Globe and Mail