Edmonton Journal Page A5
July 21, 2003
Robert Fife

Western Reform? Martin just doesn't get it, Harper says
Alliance leader says West wants less government

Liberal leadership front-runner Paul Martin has completely misread the mood of the West by promising a reform package that offers more Liberal patronage and big government, says Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper.

Harper scoffed at the Martin leadership camp's proposal to end western alienation by recruiting ambitious westerners into the public service and directing federal largesse to key sectors of the region's economy.

"It is so typical of Martin and the Liberals in saying they will address the problem and then they show exactly why there is a problem in the first place," Harper said in an interview.

"Westerner aren't saying; 'let's have more patronage and let's have more big government projects'. They are saying; 'let's be accountable for the public's tax money and let's cut patronage out of the system.'"

Public Works Minister Ralph Goodale, who is working on a western-reform package for Martin, told Canwest News Service last week Martin wants to hire westerners to policy-making roles in Ottawa and that a Martin-led government would direct federal funds to the West's economy.  Federal procurement and contracting policies hat have traditionally favoured Ontario and Quebec would be reformed, he said.

Harper said these are code-words for hiring western Liberals and dumping federal money into questionable projects that will end up as political boondoggles,

If Martin truly understood the West, Harper said, he would pledge to scuttle the controversial gun registry and control public spending on useless projects.

"Westerners aren't, by and large, complaining that there isn't enough patronage and government dumping money into the West.  What they are complaining about is lack of fairness and the government wasting money and being unaccountable generally," he said.  "The complaints are about the waste of money on the gun registry, GST fraud, boondoggles at Public Works and Human Resources."

Westerners aren't saying we want more of that out here. We're saying we want to see less of that, period."