|
| Separation Alberta's only hope - Monday, May 03, 2004 at 10:34 |
|
PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clark should take back comments, Klein says: 'We now have a unified Conservative movement in Canada and it's time to get behind the leader' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDMONTON - Joe Clark should retract his remarks slamming Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and suggesting the Liberals would be a better choice, Premier Ralph Klein says. Clark, a Calgary MP and former prime minister, on Sunday called Harper "dangerous" and hinted it would be better for moderate Conservatives to support Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. He said Monday that a Harper-led government would turn back women's rights and aboriginal land claims. Klein said Clark has damaged his legacy with these remarks. "I think it puts a bit of a blemish on his career," he said. " "Above all he's been known as a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative, albeit a Progressive Conservative, and according to members of the party like myself, he should be talking like a Conservative." Klein said Clark is "still expressing some bitterness over the amalgamation of the Alliance and the Progressive Conservative party. "He was never in favour of that. My opinion is we now have a unified Conservative movement in Canada and it's time to get behind the leader. These divisive kind of remarks are not needed." Clark is expressing a view common to many former PCs when he portrays Harper as too extreme to be prime minister, said former Calgary MP Jim Hawkes, who was Harper's boss in Ottawa in the mid-1980s. "There is a very U.S. Republican-style, right-wing part to Stephen that, if he still holds those views, would make it very difficult to get elected as prime minister," Hawkes said. Harper, an economist, worked as a researcher in Hawkes' Ottawa office in 1985-86 and defeated the MP in the 1993 election. Hawkes said moderate Conservatives like Clark are wary of Harper because of his socially conservative positions. "For people who have been Progressive Conservative for many years, this brand of social conservatism is the wrong way to go," Hawkes said Monday. Many former PCs share Clark's views, he said. The friction between the two factions of the reunited party came to a head at recent nomination meetings in Calgary. He said former PCs felt uncomfortable with the socially conservative anti-abortion, anti-gay stance of the former Alliance members. Harper appears moderate compared to some of his more socially conservative caucus colleagues. But Hawkes said that even as a young PC, Harper stood out "because of the rigidness of his ideas along the socially conservative pattern." The former MP wouldn't say whether he would take Clark's advice and support Martin over Harper. But he noted he personally endorsed rival Tony Clement in the Conservative leadership. "I think that shows you where I stand," he said. Some of Clark's former backers said they were disappointed with his comments. "I think a lot of people expected a little more from Joe in terms of being a team player," said Rob Dunseith, an Edmonton Conservative and former president of the provincial party. "I'm delighted the party came together and I'm prepared to give Mr. Harper a chance to lead it." Stephen Carter, Clark's former communications director, called the comments "unfortunate. It doesn't serve him well and it doesn't serve the party well." Liberals welcomed Clark's statement. "It shows there are people in the PC party who believe the new Conservative party isn't the one they supported," said Ray McKall, campaign manager for Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan in Edmonton Centre. "Some of those may very well be supporting Ms. McLellan." |