Source : Montreal Gazette

SAGUENAY, Que. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper told supporters here that the head of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will alternate between French-Canadians and English-Canadians, a mostly symbolic gesture that Conservatives hope will pry soft nationalist voters away from the Bloc Quebecois.

In fact, Harper is the first prime minister since Pierre Juneau became the chairperson of the CRTC in 1968 who did not honour the practice of alternating between French and English Canadian chairpersons.

In 2007, Harper appointed Konrad von Finckenstein, who was born in Germany and speaks four languages, to succeed bilingual English-Canadian Charles Dalfen.

Nonetheless, Harper promised to enshrine the practice by passing new regulations that would only require cabinet approval, and not parliamentary approval.

"More and more Quebecers and more and more nationalists are coming to the understanding that our party is the only party that is looking out for their interests in Ottawa," Harper said in French.

Harper also attacked the Liberals here, saying leader Stephane Dion would drive the country into deficit.

The prime minister said the Liberals are making tens of billions of dollars in spending promises the country cannot afford. "To pay for them he wants a new tax and now we're finding out that's not enough, he will run a deficit. In this time of economic uncertainty, that is not the kind of leadership this country needs."

The Liberals, who under Jean Chretien eliminated the deficit left to them by Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, said in a statement that they would not permit the federal treasury to go into deficit under any circumstances.

Both the BQ and the Liberals are on the decline in the province of Quebec, which has 75 seats in the House of Commons.

The Conservatives believe some of their biggest gains in this election can be at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois. In the 2006 election, the Tories held no seats in this province and, even to their own surprise, won 10. Now they believe they can double that and perhaps even more.

Here in the Saguenay region of Quebec, about two hours north of Quebec City, the Conservatives have enjoyed remarkable success in the region's three ridings in the last four years.

In the general election of 2006, Conservative Jean-Pierre Blackburn started the campaign with less than five per cent of voter support but ended up winning the seat of Jonquiere-Alma away from a Bloc Quebecois incumbent. Then, a year ago Wednesday, Conservative Denis Lebel won a byelection in Roberval-Lac Saint Jean, a seat that had been held by former BQ leader Michel Gauthier.

Harper's speech Wednesday in Chicoutimi was in support of Conservative Jean-Guy Maltais, who hopes to unseat BQ incumbent Robert Bouchard.

In addition to requiring that the chair of the CRTC alternate between French and English Canadians, the Conservatives promised some other measures that will formalize what is already one of the most bilingual federal institutions.

The Conservatives will require that one-quarter of the 13 commissioners be from French Canada and that at least one of the two vice-chairs of the commission be from French Canada.

Currently, both those requirements are met. Four of the 13 commissioners are from French Canada, including vice-chairman Michel Arpin.

Harper also said that any hearings involving a French-language broadcaster or issue must be heard by a panel where the majority of commissioners are from French Canada.

Harper started his day in the southern Ontario riding of Welland, where he announced new measures to cut down on the sales of tobacco products to children, an initiative that is unlikely to generate much opposition from any other political party.

Then, in response to questions from reporters there, he attacked Liberal MP Bob Rae's economic record as the NDP premier of Ontario and broadened his criticism of Dion on the issue of running a deficit.

"Bob Rae and the NDP took a slowdown (in Ontario) and turned it into the biggest recession in 50 years," Harper added.

"If you look at the tens of billions of dollars of announcements they are making, the only way these can be financed are not simply through big increases in taxes that they are already promising, but it would mean deficits and large deficits," Harper said. "We will not go into deficit. That's the underpinning, the central plank of our policy of fiscal responsibility."

It was the first time on the campaign Harper has mentioned Rae by name. In Ottawa, Secretary of State Jason Kenney, wearing a button that said "Go For Bob, Go For Broke," held a news conference attacking Rae's record.

Rae began campaigning with Dion this week as Liberals tried to take a new tack by showing off the leadership "dream team" behind Dion.

The Conservatives also released a new television ad Wednesday that will begin airing immediately. The setting is similar to some other Conservative spots: Harper in front of the fireplace at Harrrington Lake in Gatineau, Que. In the ad he says, "When all is said and done, soft on crime doesn't work."

Harper was in the Greater Toronto Area Tuesday when a high school student was shot. There were two other shootings in Toronto that evening.

Also in Welland, Harper repeated his warning to opposition parties that he would brook no delays to his anti-crime bills should he win a minority government on Oct. 14.

"While all the parties will in this election say they favour these things, in reality they don't. They come from a different school - they don't favour this approach," said Harper. "That's why they're already squeaking about the fact that I say I'll make some of these things confidence measures. They don't want to pass them."

And Harper also told reporters he has no objection to the release of a report by Parliament's new independent budget office on the costs of the Afghanistan mission.

"We're always willing to give consent for any information that's public. We put out detailed estimates every year," Harper said. "Of course, we're willing to give our consent."

The budget officer, Kevin Page, told Global National that he would need all-party consent to release his report in the midst of an election campaign. The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois have informed Page in writing that they would like him to release the report.

But Harper's advisers resisted suggestions that the Conservatives need to send such a letter to Page, saying that not only is Harper on the record verbally as saying he consents to its release but, as an independent officer of Parliament, Page is free to do as he pleases.

© Vancouver Sun