The Conservatives are calling for a senior Liberal senator's resignation after he speculated that citizens in Newfoundland and Labrador are so fed up with the federal government that they might form a separatist party.
Sen. George Baker of Gander, N.L. made the comments Monday night on a St. John's radio station and then defended them on CTV's Power Play Wednesday.
"When you talk about young people, you may see in the future a new political party on the horizon that represents Newfoundlanders just like the Bloc Quebecois represents the people of Quebec better than any other political party," Baker told a radio show on Monday night.
He says that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a personal vendetta against N.L. Premier Danny Williams and is using the federal budget as a weapon against the outspoken premier.
Baker says the new federal budget wipes out $1.7 billion in equalization payments, representing nearly 20 per cent of Newfoundland and Labrador's budget.
"If this continues for (Harper's) term . . . then what you are going to see is a completely different party," he told Power Play. "There's going to be a political party that says, 'We are going to stand up for Newfoundland and Labrador.'"
"It's gotta be stopped, if its not stopped in the House of Commons, they are going to be facing . . . a new party in Newfoundland that would be comparable to the Bloc (Quebecois.)"
The Conservatives pounced on Baker's comments Wednesday.
"I think (the comments) are very concerning. (You've) got a member of the Liberal caucus calling on the creation of a 'Bloc Newfoundland'," Kory Teneycke, Harper's spokesperson, said Wednesday. "He's talking on the most glowing terms imaginable about the Bloc Quebecois and what they've been able to achieve. Clearly, this is beyond the pale and Sen. Baker should be removed from the Liberal caucus."
Tory MP James Bezan called for Baker's resignation in the House of Commons during question period and said it was clear that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff "tolerates these views in the Liberal party."
Baker said he has no interest in forming or leading a "Bloc Newfoundland and Labrador" (BNL) party, saying with a laugh that "I'm too old for this."
He said that a hypothetical BNL party would not necessarily have to be a separatist party, and instead a regional one. But he did not rule out a future referendum in his province about whether to separate from Canada.
"How long do you take it? The time is up and if they keep doing this for another three years what other option would there be?" Baker said.
Baker, a long-time MP, was veteran affairs minister under Jean Chr锟絫ien and was first elected to the House in 1974.
