Pubdate: Fri, 09 Oct 2015
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Michael Smyth
Page: 4

ECONOMY TOP OF MIND FOR HARPER

Conservative Leader Talks Pot, Pipelines, the Niqab and Foreign Home Ownership

Suds, not buds. That's the preferred choice of Prime Minister Stephen 
Harper when it comes to booming new businesses springing up all 
around Vancouver.

The PM said he's impressed with the city's hopping new wave of micro-breweries.

"Nice to see their success," Harper said at the Red Truck Beer 
Company, where he taste-tested the local suds.

But all those marijuana shops illegally peddling B.C. bud? He's less 
impressed with that.

"We are concerned about the activities," Harper told me Thursday 
during a campaign-trail interview. "There is strong suspicion of not 
respecting the law."

Do ya think, prime minister? With more than 100 "medical" marijuana 
shops doing a booming business - and the cops executing 11 recent 
search warrants - it's obvious federal laws are being brazenly 
flouted. Will he do something about it? "I know the RCMP and Health 
Canada are looking at some of the issues these are presenting," he 
said. "We should do whatever we can to discourage marijuana use."

Harper talked about the pot shops and other issues - including 
foreign real-estate speculators, oil pipelines and the emotional 
battle over the niqab - during our talk in advance of the Oct. 19 election.

I asked about his recent comment that marijuana is "infinitely worse" 
than tobacco. How could he say that when 40,000 Canadians a year die 
of tobacco-related illness?

"Tobacco use is more widespread - so in that sense, it's worse," he 
acknowledged. "But we don't want marijuana to become that widespread 
because it will have all the bad effects of tobacco and more."

Then he took a shot at Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who has 
promised to legalize pot.

"This has been Mr. Trudeau's No. 1 priority. Our No. 1 priority is 
the economy," he said.

The global economy, he said, is "unstable and fragile" and B.C. 
voters should think twice about electing a Liberal or NDP government 
that would jack up taxes and "kill jobs."

He said home ownership, for example, has increased to record levels 
under a decade of Conservative rule - though that could be threatened 
in Vancouver by offshore speculators.

Harper repeated a commitment to track foreign real-estate sales to 
see if they're artificially inflating Metro Vancouver home prices.

Could it mean a speculation tax? Penalties or restrictions on foreign buyers?

"We're going to take a look at the data before looking at what needs 
to be done," he said, while reassuring existing homeowners. "We 
obviously don't want to do something that would crash the value of home prices.

"At the same time, we want to make sure for hard-working, 
middle-class Canadian families home ownership is affordable and accessible."

Speaking of the economy, I asked Harper about those two proposed oil 
pipelines through B.C. - Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan - and 
whether they would get built over fierce opposition.

"We obviously do like to see interest and investment in Canada," 
Harper said, while insisting the pipelines won't get built unless 
they pass strict and independent environmental hearings.

Then it was back to bashing his opponents.

"The other parties are out there opposing all these projects, even 
opposing some of the things we're doing to encourage LNG development," he said.

LNG - liquefied natural gas - is a major priority of the B.C. government.

Harper is in a political fight for the ages. With the election just 
10 days away - and the polls showing a close race - I asked him why 
British Columbians should re-elect him.

What about his decision to shut down the Kitsilano Coast Guard 
station with no outside consultation, for example? Harper defended 
the decision. "There were all kinds of predictions that there would 
be problems with search and rescue and there hasn't been," he said.

I reminded him of the slow response to last spring's bunker-fuel 
spill in English Bay.

"There was a slow communications response," he said. "It had nothing 
to do with previous decisions."

Harper weighed in on the continuing campaign debate over the niqab, 
the face-covering veil worn by some Muslim women.

"In a public citizenship ceremony, when someone's joining the 
Canadian family, they should reveal their identity," he insisted. "I 
continue to be surprised that the other parties ... are clearly 
offside with Canadian values of openness and equality."

But Harper stuck mainly to his economic talking points while 
attacking his rivals.

"This is the big choice in the election," he said. "Do you want an 
economic plan based on low taxes, balancing our budget and making 
sure we actually can deliver benefits to the people?

"Or do you want to take the risk of the higher taxes proposed by the 
other parties that we think would kill jobs."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom