Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion unveiled a proposal to spend an extra $70-million to buy back fishing licenses and $100-million to revamp small harbours, as he wooed Newfoundland with a $420-million proposal to aid Canada's fisheries.
That plan included a recently-announced $250-million proposal to help pay for refitting fishing boats and equipment to be updated with more energy-efficient technology like new engines, to save fuel.
He said his approach is better than Mr. Harper's pledge to cut taxes on diesel by two cents a litre in four years, noting that prices at the pumps rose more than that the day after the Conservative leader made the announcement. Helping fishermen cut their fuel consumption will save them more as fuel costs keep on rising, he said.
He also promised $100-million to revamp small harbours, and a $70-million increase to programs to buy back fishing licenses, so that those who want to quit can “do so with dignity.”
And Mr. Dion said he would negotiate an international agreement to prevent overfishing on the tail of the Grand Banks, creating a conservation area that protects parts of both domestic and international waters.
In a radio interview, he refused to promise to apply “custodial management” of international waters in the nose and tail of the Grand Banks to prevent foreign overfishing – essentially a Canadian takeover of international waters. But he blasted Mr. Harper for promising in the last election campaign to apply custodial management, but failing to keep his pledge.
Earlier, Mr. Dion used Newfoundland's anybody-but-Conservative movement to attack Stephen Harper as a leader who cannot be trusted, opening the second week of his campaign in St. John's with blasts on his opponent's credibility.
Newfoundland and Labrador remains the province where Mr. Harper's Conservatives face the most difficulty – a strong sentiment that has lingered over what Premier Danny Williams has termed a betrayal on the Atlantic Accord.
The Liberals are hoping to pick up a few seats here, but the province also served as a backdrop for Mr. Dion to deliver his warning that Canadians cannot believe that Mr. Harper will keep his word.
“There is a breach of trust between Stephen Harper and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador,” Mr. Dion said. “What he did for the people Newfoundland and Labrador he may do everywhere – everywhere – in Canada..”
The Liberal Leader said that Mr. Harper did the same to seniors who put their money into income trusts, believing the Conservative Leader's promise that he would not tax them, but who were then his by his government's heavy tax on the investment units.
“We Liberals, we will correct this terrible mistake,” Mr. Dion.
“How can we trust a man whose first gesture had been to [break] his promise when he decided to appoint a non-elected Senator as a minister, and his last gesture has been to [break] his promise when he decided to rush to an election when he had a law on fixed election dates.”
“This man has broken his promise again and again and again. We cannot have trust in him. We need to have a prime minister we can trust, and it's what I will provide to Canada,” Mr. Dion said.
Mr. Harper's Conservatives have faced a backlash ever since his government went back on its promise to allow the province to keep all future offshore oil and gas revenues under the Atlantic Accord, without clawbacks under the equalization system.
Mr. Williams, a highly popular Tory premier, has launched an anybody-but-Conservative campaign that is causing Mr. Harper's team grief on the campaign trail.
The Liberals have hopes of knocking off Conservative MP Fabian Manning in Avalon riding, and the Tories are also facing a tough fight to keep two St. John's seats vacated by two retiring MPs, Norm Doyle and Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn. But the NDP is also making a stiff challenge is St. John's.
