Harper's hat officially in ring

By BRIAN LAGHI and CAMPBELL CLARK
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

(Ottawa) Stephen Harper kicked off his campaign Monday night to head
Canada's new Conservative Party by attacking Paul Martin's wealth and
political record, while portraying himself as the true ally of Canada's
middle-class.

The former Canadian Alliance leader made his remarks at a campaign rally as
a source reported that Tory Leader Peter MacKay  who along with Mr. Harper
was a driving force behind the merger of the Alliance and the Progressive
Conservatives  is expected to announce Tuesday he will not be a candidate
for the leadership.

And Wednesday, the new Conservative Party will lose its first Canadian
Alliance veteran when MP Keith Martin announces that he plans to sit as an
independent while he seeks the Liberal nomination in his British Columbia
riding, sources said.

In a speech that included references to Mr. Martin's privileged background,
Mr. Harper told supporters that he is in public life to serve Canadian
families and children. Much of the speech was devoted to establishing a
connection with ordinary voters, an effort some of his supporters think he
must make in order to overcome an image as a stiff ideologue.

"My worries are your worries," Mr. Harper told about 500
supporters. "My interests are your interests. I don't stand for
patronage because I don't owe anybody anything. I don't believe in
corporate subsidies and no one ever became my friend to get one." He
also compared his humbler roots to those of Mr. Martin, referring to the
Prime Minister's upbringing as the son of a politician and his ownership of
Canada Steamship Lines.

"I was not born into a family with a seat at the cabinet table. I grew
up playing on the streets of Toronto, not playing in the corridors of
power," he said. "When I left home for Alberta, I had to get a
job. I wasn't on loan to the corporate elite. I'll never be able to give my
kids a billion-dollar company, but [his wife] Laureen and I save and count
on the same Canada Pension Plan that everyone else gets."

Several Canadian Alliance MPs and Ontario MPPs Bob Runciman and John Baird
were at Mr. Harper's kick-off, but no one from the former federal PC caucus
attended.

Although the acknowledged leader in the race, Mr. Harper must make an
effort to win over former Tories. Many conservatives are concerned that a
party with Mr. Harper as leader would be little more than another form of
the Alliance and its social-conservative supporters.

Mr. Harper flicked briefly to those concerns, saying Canada's future is not
"threatened by people with strong values." He also acknowledged
his own errors, but said Mr. Martin's past is far more difficult to defend.

"I have made mistakes. I have occasionally said things I should not
have said, sometimes said the right things badly," he said. "But
I stand before you on my record, and unlike Paul Martin, I have no need to
deny the last decade of my life."

Mr. Harper has expressed controversial views about Atlantic Canadians' work
ethic and was criticized for not demanding an apology quickly enough from a
back-bench MP for an anti-gay remark in the House of Commons.

While Mr. Harper spoke, some Tories were digesting the fact that Mr. MacKay
is preparing not to run. Sources said the Tory caucus leader was phoning
his competitors with the news.

Officials within the MacKay camp would not comment, although some continued
to hope that he might stay in the race.

In his speech, Mr. Harper described Mr. Martin as a vacillating politician,
saying he can't make up his mind about whether he supports marriage for
homosexuals and often flips on his own policies.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Martin commits to positions like Britney
Spears commits to marriage," he said.

"He began his career attacking balanced budgets. Now he boasts that he
eliminated the deficit. Last election, he ran as a tax cutter and
afterwards, he turned on the spending gaps. Now, on the eve of the
election, he freezes spending."

He also described Mr. Martin as "one of those CEOs who does takeovers
one year and downsizes the next  but always does well on the stock options
for himself."

Mr. Harper said his program for Canada would include making it the world's
lowest-taxing country. He said he would ensure the education and health
systems by working together with the provinces.

He also appealed to traditional Conservative supporters, saying the
government's focus must go beyond big cities to farmers, fishermen and
forestry workers.

"Securing the future for our families means banning child pornography,
not banning health supplements. It means registering sexual predators, not
registering duck hunters."

Mr. Harper will be in Atlantic Canada today while other potential
contenders continue to assemble their teams. They include auto-parts
magnate Belinda Stronach, former Ontario health minister Tony Clement and
Alliance MP Chuck Strahl.

While candidates begin to line up for the Conservative leadership race,
pieces of the party keep falling away.

Dr. Martin, a onetime Alliance leadership candidate who was long considered
one of its most left-leaning MPs, plans to announce tomorrow that he will
quit the Conservatives to sit as an independent in the coming session of
Parliament, sources said. At the same time, he intends to run for the
Liberal nomination in his Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca riding.

Although sources said Dr. Martin discussed the move with Mr. Martin's team,
including B.C. campaign organizer Mark Marissen, the Liberal nomination is
not guaranteed. Instead, Dr. Martin is expected to face at least one local
Liberal.




--- GoldED/W32 3.0.1