Conservatives readying for win

Page 7

We go to press on Day 11 of the five-week federal election campaign with the talk being all about a possible Conservative Party of Canada minority government.

Candidates and party officials-and pollsters-report that the Canadian electorate is angry, angry about what has come to be known as the Adscam scandal where Liberal-friendly advertising firms in Quebec received up to $100 million in contracts for work that was never delivered or not worth the money.

Prime Minister Paul Martin's party is steadily dropping in the polls and the party has sent out for help from Chretien-era backroom campaign warriors. Conservative leader Stephen Harper is forming a transition team to prepare his party to govern after an anticipated election win.

Aboriginal leaders are watching it all nervously. They know former Canadian Alliance/Reform Party types dominate the new Conservative Party. And they know those people haven't been too friendly to the concept of Aboriginal rights in the past.

The Conservatives have yet to hold a policy conference. Harper was elected leader only a few months ago and the election call arrived before the new party could go through the process of inviting grassroots party delegates to come together and bash out the fine points of what the party stands for. And Aboriginal issues have not exactly dominated the campaign so far.

Reform sounding gaffes by Conservative candidates on the French language and abortion issues show there's still a decided tilt to the right within the party.

NDP leader Jack Layton made waves when he said the Prime Minister was responsible for the deaths of homeless people who didn't receive adequate help as a result of Martin's battle against the deficit. He later backtracked slightly but continued to insist that politicians must be responsible for the negative consequences of their decisions.

There's talk of alliances now that the polls are showing that the Liberals and Conservatives are neck and neck. Conservatives are nervous about speculation they could co-operate with the separatist Bloc Quebecois if they don't get a majority. The Liberals and NDP are making friendly noises towards each other just in case.

It seems ironic that just a few weeks after the most ambitious plan ever by a federal government that promised to actually work in true partnership with Aboriginal peoples was announced by Martin, the Liberals are in danger of being unseated for the first time in more than 10 years.

Native leaders in Saskatoon for the Assembly of First Nations' confederacy from May 18 to 20 made no secret of their support for the Liberals. National Chief Phil Fontaine told the Indian Affairs minister, Andy Mitchell, "we wish you well" in the election. Sowalie First Nation Chief Doug Kelly told this publication he was hoping for a Liberal majority.

And it's no secret that Martin went out of his way to recruit Aboriginal candidates.

Russell Diabo, a Kahnawake Mohawk who lives in Ottawa, assembled the available information on the party positions on Aboriginal issues for the First Nations Strategic Bulletin, the newsletter for the First Nations Strategic Policy Counsel. The Bloc Quebecois and the Conservative Party segments are quite short while the NDP and Liberal positions are much more detailed.

The Bloc simply states that it recognizes Aboriginal rights and nations and plans to "put in place a viable economic and social contract between Quebec and Aboriginal nations."

The Conservatives, who planned to release their platform late in the second week of the campaign, state two points on Aboriginal policy. The party will make sure the Charter will apply to Aboriginal self-government and the Conservatives will give "Aboriginals the power to raise their own revenues."

No details are provided on what those two planks might mean should the rubber ever hit the road.

The Liberal platform is a rehash of things Martin has already promised. An independent centre for Firt Nation governance will be established, $50 million for an urban Aboriginal strategy, discussions about Metis inclusion in Aboriginal policies and programs. The party also reminds voters that it created a Cabinet committee of ministers to look at new approaches to Aboriginal issues and that the Prime Minister is the committee's chair.

The NDP promises a number of major initiatives. The party says it will call a first minister's meeting to discuss the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

It will settle land claims and encourage partnerships between the business community and Aboriginal people, train 10,000 Aboriginal people in health, education and social services and make housing and infrastructure their number one priority in Aboriginal communities.

The party will also create Aboriginal seats in Parliament, drop appeals of residential school decisions, expand the use of traditional Aboriginal justice practices, "recognize Aboriginal self-governance as a fundamental component of a modern federal state," improve health care services, develop an urban Aboriginal strategy, ensure a seat at the table in talks with provincial/territorial/federal talks on health care, make clean water a top priority and end the low level flight testing over Innu lands.

The election is June 28.