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Malcolm Allen, the NDP incumbent in the Ontario riding of Welland, stands outside Picard Peanuts as Stephen Harper makes a stop campaign stop in Fonthill Ont., on April 4, 2011.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Stephen Harper stopped by a Niagara-region nut shop Monday to pick up some goodies for his mother. Grandma Harper is babysitting the kids at 24 Sussex.

Outside Picard's Peanuts in Fonthill, Ont., however, was Malcolm Allen, the local NDP incumbent whom Mr. Harper is targeting for defeat in the May 2 election.

The Conservative Leader had paid a visit to the riding of Welland earlier Monday to campaign against Mr. Allen, who only won his seat in 2008 by a few hundred votes.

The Tories are hoping to harness rural anger at the fact Mr. Allen flip-flopped last September and ended up opposing a Conservative effort to kill the long-gun registry.

Mr. Allen had showed up at the nut shop in order to talk to reporters about the Conservative campaign against his record. He hadn't planned to talk to Mr. Harper, but was willing to if the opportunity arose.

Inside Picard's Peanuts, Mr. Harper signed the guest book and asked his wife, Laureen, what the date was. She in turn double-checked with reporters, saying: "It's just Groundhog Day again."

The couple picked up grocery baskets and went shopping, picking out different flavours, from dill pickle to habenaro.

Mr. Harper also went for beer nuts, choosing a smaller package. He noted that once you start eating beer nuts, you keep eating them.

In total the couple bought 10 bags of flavoured peanuts. Mr. Harper paid cash and they helped the owners assemble a gift basket for his mother and their kids.

Outside, Mr. Allen accused the Tory Leader of being out of touch.

He said the burning issue in Welland is not firearms but jobs. The jobless rate in the area is 9.6 per cent, which is nearly two points above the national average.

"He has been here three times now," the New Democrat said.

"In '08 he came in and talked about candy flavoured cigarettes when 800 people were losing their jobs at John Deere and said nothing about those job losses," he said.

"He came back this year and talked about volunteer awards but what we really needed was help for the unemployed in this region," Mr. Allen said.

"Now hehe is back again talking about the gun registry when Henniges is losing 300 jobs and closing a plant." (He was referring to the shuttering of a Welland auto-parts plant.)

In the end, Mr. Allen never got a chance to talk to Mr. Harper. Their paths never crossed.

Mr. Harper was asked by a local broadcast reporter during his morning presser what he'd do for the Niagara with its higher jobless rate. "Some parts of the Niagara region are much better than others and Welland has been a particularly hard hit region."

He replied that he would keep corporate taxes low. Mr. Harper's main rivals, the Liberals, are proposing to roll back tax cut commitments for business.

"When you look at a place like Welland where job losses have been caused by companies who are leaving that country, it is obviously important that we not raise taxes further and drive employers out of the country."

Mr. Harper pledged to "look at doing more" if he is re-elected and encouraged riding voters to cast their ballot for the Conservatives.

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