Harper Heads East to Woo Atlantic Vote

Tories Trailing Liberals in Regional Polls

VICTORIA -- Stephen Harper heads east this week, hoping to make
indignation over the sponsorship scandal burn hot enough to sear
Atlantic seats away from the Liberals but also to convince easterners
that he can offer them a better way.

The Conservative Leader spent time in every region of the country
during the first five days of the campaign. His tour ended with a
noisy pep rally in Victoria on Saturday afternoon.

This week the focus will be slightly more concentrated. After a couple
events in Ontario, Mr. Harper will turn toward the Maritimes with
stops in St. John's, Fredericton and Prince Edward Island.

On last week's tour, the Conservatives tried to brand themselves with
big national announcements. This week there will be more of a regional
focus. Expect policy for fishermen and other Atlantic interests.

Deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay has already been conducting
his own tour through the region and is optimistic that his party can
break more ground.

"I think there are seats in play in all four provinces," Mr. MacKay
said, adding that each one -- Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince
Edward Island, and Newfoundland -- currently has a Progressive
Conservative government.

"You've got the organizations of the provincial parties very actively
helping our candidates," he said.

But it will still be a tough slog. One recent poll put the Liberals
ahead with 46 per cent of decided voters and had the Conservatives
trailing with 27 per cent. That same poll, conducted by Corporate
Research Associates, suggests that Liberal Leader Paul Martin is twice
as popular in the east as Mr. Harper.

Behind the scenes, Conservative strategists say their best hopes lie
in several places. In Nova Scotia, they like their chances in the West
Nova riding of former Liberal fisheries minister Robert Thibault and
they are targeting Liberal Public Works Minister Scott Brison in
Kings-Hants where there is a Tory history.

It's an ambitious undertaking. Mr. Brison remains extremely popular in
his riding despite his political conversion to the Liberals. He
dismisses the notion that a Conservative could beat him.

"They said that last election," he said this weekend.

As for Mr. Harper, Mr. Brison said: "It's hard for a guy who wanted to
build a firewall around Alberta to build a bridge to Atlantic Canada."

But the Conservative Leader is going to try.

In Newfoundland, the Tories will go hard after Avalon, where Liberal
cabinet minister John Efford has said he will not run again. In New
Brunswick, they have their sights set on Fredericton,
Tobique-Mactaquac and Miramichi.

And in Prince Edward Island, they hope to pick up Charlottetown, the
only real spot where they have a good chance of making inroads.

Atlantic Canadians will not make up their minds until the last week of
the campaign and they will keep their eyes on the national trends,"
Mr. MacKay said. If the Conservatives seem to have the momentum, they
will recognize that it is in their interests to have strong voices in
a government led by Mr. Harper, he said.

The bumpiest stretch of the Conservative Leader's first week came
Wednesday when he and Mr. MacKay contradicted each other over the role
of the party's proposed director of public prosecutions. Fortunately,
Mr. MacKay said, it was apparent to the public that it was just a
mix-up in communications.

Besides, "it's good to get the wrinkles out in the early days of the
campaign," he said. "It's really the second inning that counts."

On Saturday, Mr. Harper announced part of the Conservative
law-and-order platform focusing primarily on drug control.

Possession of marijuana will remain a criminal offence if his party
forms the government.

"The values of a peaceful, orderly, safe society are a problem none of
the other parties seem to care about," he told reporters at a
recreational complex in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby.

"We have to do something about the drug crisis in this
country."

The Conservative Leader said he would impose mandatory minimum
sentences of at least two years for people convicted of trafficking,
selling or importing hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine or crystal
methamphetamine. He would ban conditional sentences -- something he
likened to house arrest -- for serious drug crimes, and increase fines
to reflect the true value of the profit that can be made for dealing
the banned substances.

Unlike the Liberals, the Conservatives would not decriminalize
marijuana. Instead, they say they would introduce a national drug
strategy that would target keeping drugs away from young people.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that we have seen a rapid expansion
of the drug trade" since the Liberals started talking about taking
marijuana possession out of the Criminal Code.

Asked why he would saddle a student who is caught with a small amount
of the substance with a criminal record, Mr. Harper said "we believe
we have to send a message that these are not desirable
activities."

The disastrous social consequences of the use of crystal meth have
been a focus for many members of the Conservative caucus this year and
have become a common issue raised in Question Period.

Mr. Harper discounted statements from former Vancouver mayor Larry
Campbell, who is now a Liberal senator, that the crystal meth issue
has been overblown. Mr. Campbell is also a proponent of safe injection
sites, which Mr. Harper says would have no champion at the federal
level if his party wins.

"A priority of our government will not be to use taxpayers' money to
fund drug use."