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Unread 10 Sep 2008, 11:40 PM
islandgirl islandgirl is offline
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Default Harper offers Afghan plan; May wins debate spot

Since I have a few minutes today, thought I'd post some news (although it ain't news now I guess!)

Harper offers Afghan plan; May wins debate spot

David Akin, Andrew Mayeda, Juliet O'Neill and Glenn Johnson , Canwest News Service

Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised Canada would have most of our troops out of Afghanistan by 2011 and Elizabeth May won a place at the podium for the televised election debates as the leaders of the major parties campaigned in seat-rich Ontario Wednesday.

Harper said a Conservative government would have most Canadian troops out of Afghanistan in 2011.

"I don't want to say we won't have a single troop there, because obviously, we would aid in some technical capacities. But, at that point, the mission as we've known it, we intend to end," Harper said, adding his party would propose to maintain "some presence" in the country after 2011, but with a focus mostly on reconstruction and development.

The Green Party made political history when its leader was invited for the first time to take part in the upcoming leaders' debates on television Oct. 1-2.

May had threatened legal action if she was not allowed to debate alongside the leaders of the other main political parties. She was invited to take part after the NDP and Conservatives dropped their opposition to her appearance.

On the campaign trail, Harper said his party is running on a strong fiscal record, which he hopes will translate to a breakthrough in Ontario, where the party needs seats to win a majority government on Oct. 14.

"Our plan is low taxes, debt reduction, prudent spending and positioning Canada in a competitive global economy," Harper said as he tried to make inroads with Toronto voters.

"Conservatives in the last 15 years or so have become foreign in Toronto," Harper said. "Each election we've picked up a little bit. It's the same phenomenon we'll see in places like Quebec City or Ottawa. Once we start electing some people, it'll be easier to elect more."

Harper and his Conservatives have boasted about their job creation record. Since Feb. 2006, when Harper became prime minister, the economy has created 800,000 new jobs. However, Canada's manufacturing sector has lost nearly 180,000 positions in that same period, according to Statistics Canada.

In recent days, Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. said it would lay off 500 workers at its Oakville, Ont. assembly plant as of Oct. 1, two weeks ahead of election day. That news came as the Bank of Nova Scotia issued a new report saying economic growth in Ontario this year will likely be flat with the Canadian economy overall growing by only 0.7 per cent this year.

That news was fodder for the New Democrats, who promised to create manufacturing jobs.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said he would create 40,000 new "green collar" jobs through an $8-billion investment over four years, financed by rolling back corporate income tax cuts.

"We need a prime minister who will stand and fight to create good-paying jobs," said Layton, standing outside a General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ont.

GM said in June it will close its Oshawa pickup truck plant next year, cutting as many as 2,600 jobs. That news came on the heels of an announcement last week in Welland, Ont., where Deere and Co. said it would shut its plant, with 800 jobs being moved south of the border.

The Liberals have said they would establish a $1-billion fund to deal with the problems in Canada's manufacturing sector. Party leader Stephane Dion said he will speak more about this party's economic policies in Saint John, N.B. on Thursday.

In Walkerton, Ont., Dion used the town to unveil his party's platform on food safety, announcing he would introduce a $50-million plan to hire another 100 inspectors for the food safety system.

"There is nothing more at the core of what the government should do than food safety - to be sure that the water you drink and the food you eat is safe," he said.

Also on the campaign trail Wednesday:
  • During a rally in Toronto Wednesday night, Harper touted his party's staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy, accusing opposition-party members of "marching in the streets beside the flag of Hezbollah." Two years ago, Harper ruffled diplomatic feathers when he refused to sign a resolution at the annual summit of the Francophonie that expressed sympathy for Lebanese victims in the war between Israel and Lebanon. On Wednesday, he called the resolution "a case of political correctness gone mad."
  • Canwest News Service learned Wednesday the Liberal party has moved to cancel its December convention in Vancouver, meaning there won't be a vote at that time to review Dion's leadership. The convention would have come less than two months after the Oct. 14 election. A Liberal source said the convention is being cancelled because the party would rather use donations for the campaign than organizing a convention, adding the decision was made in April to cancel the gathering if an election were called this year.

© Canwest News Service 2008
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