DRUMMONDVILLE, QUE. — The federal Conservatives accused Paul Martin yesterday of condoning child pornography, rocking the party's election campaign as it strove to show a moderate face to voters.
The charge came in a news release issued by the party's Ottawa election headquarters. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper had the missive reworded and reissued about an hour after it was released. He did not disavow the release, nor did he say he would stop attacking Mr. Martin for not doing enough to stamp out child pornography.
A sombre Mr. Martin asked for an apology last night. "Look, this is personal. I am a father and I am a husband. And he has crossed the line. He should apologize."
The release, headlined "Paul Martin Supports Child Pornography?" included this statement: "Today, Martin says he's against child pornography. But his voting record proves otherwise."
Related Articles
It goes on to note that Mr. Martin voted against an opposition motion two years ago to prohibit the creation and use of child pornography. Opposition motions are routinely voted down.
The creation and possession of child pornography is illegal in Canada. But the opposition motion called for an outright ban to prevent defences of artistic merit.
Earlier yesterday, a similar Conservative news release about the NDP questioned whether the whole caucus condoned child pornography.
The releases were the first major blunders from the Tory party machine.
Until now, most Conservative gaffes had come from individuals discussing issues such as bilingualism and abortion.
The party has been enjoying a small but growing lead in polls. A new Ipsos-Reid poll for The Globe and Mail and CTV yesterday showed the Conservatives at 32 per cent among decided voters, a three-point lead over the Liberal Party. The NDP was at 16 per cent.
|
|
| DECISION 2004 PAGE |
|
STORIES |
|
OPINION/EDITORIAL |
| PRESS
RELEASES • Bloc • Conservatives • Liberals • NDP |
|
QUOTABLE
|
|
SCHEDULE
|
|
ON THE
TRAIL
|
|
globeandmail.com
features
• Platforms • Poll tracker • Party standings • History • Toolkit • Profiles • Sights and sounds • Phillips flash cartoons |
|
LINKS |
| PARTIES • Liberals • Conservatives • NDP • Bloc |
| POLLS • Ipsos-Reid • Ekos • Environics • SES |
| YOUR
RIDING Search by riding |
"I thought the headline was a bit strong so I told them to change it," Mr. Harper said. However, he refused to say the remarks were in bad taste.
Mr. Harper also did not answer Liberal accusations that the Conservatives were politicizing the issue after a Toronto man, Michael Briere, was given a life sentence for the murder of 10-year-old Holly Jones on Thursday.
He had committed the crime immediately after viewing child pornography.
"What's in bad taste is the Liberal Party's record on child pornography," Mr. Harper said.
Mr. Harper, who was campaigning in Quebec yesterday, also said he won't refrain from attacking the Liberals on the issue. The Conservatives believe the Liberals have not done enough to remove legal loopholes in child-pornography laws.
"I had them reissue [the release], but I'm not going to, in any way, give the Liberal Party any break on its record on child pornography," he said.
"If they want to make the election campaign about that in the next 10 days, I'd love to fight that war."
In the NDP release, the Conservatives asked similar questions.
"The NDP caucus supports child pornography?" it asked. "Jack Layton says he would shut down child-porn sites; but has he spoken to his caucus lately?" That release was re-issued later in the day with a less inflammatory title: "How Tough Are the NDP on Child Pornography?"
Spokespeople for the Conservative Party would not identify the authors of the releases, saying it was a collaborative effort. They said no one had been let go.
Mr. Martin's chief of staff, Tim Murphy, said he found the release "saddening."
"It's not so much about politics as about right and wrong, and you would have thought that somewhere in an organization ..... someone would have stood up and said, 'This is wrong; this goes too far; this crosses the line,'." he said.
"And it's just kind of saddening that that didn't happen, because I think frankly it diminishes political discourse for all of us."
NDP leader Jack Layton called the Conservative charges "ridiculous" and called for cooler heads to prevail, as well as swift federal government action to shut down child-pornography websites.
Regina NDP candidate Dick Proctor, who was singled out personally in the news release, blasted the Conservatives for the partisan attack.
"I think it's scurrilous, it's gutless," he said.
"The fact that nobody has put their name to this release speaks volumes about what is there. ..... [The Conservatives] talk about being a moderate party, but you really have to wonder at times like this."
The releases came after Mr. Harper was asked whether his campaign was starting to take the low road, aggressively criticizing Mr. Martin over the past few days. Yesterday, Mr. Harper called Mr. Martin dishonest and dishonourable, also accusing him of hypocrisy in his effort to link Mr. Harper with Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's plans for a radical reform of the province's health-care system.
"My attacks on Mr. Martin are correct," he said.
"Mr. Martin likes to put out that he's champion of public health care, that he supports only publicly delivered health care, and that's just not factual."
With a report from Campbell Clark in Oakville, Ont., and Steven Chase in Regina
