May export anti-Conservative campaign to other provinces: Williams

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams says he may take his Anything But Conservative campaign to other provinces, but he won't go out of his way to shadow Stephen Harper across Canada.

Williams, who launched a harsh attack on Harper on Wednesday while speaking to a St. John's business group, said he has received many offers for speaking engagements across Canada and may accept some.

"My role is not to chase Stephen Harper and stand outside where he's speaking, with a placard," Williams said.

Williams, a provincial Progressive Conservative, has denounced Harper as a "fraud" who intends to implement a far-right agenda if the federal Conservatives form a majority government during the Oct. 14 election.

Williams said Harper has already come under fire for cutting funding to arts, women's, aboriginal and volunteer groups, even though the minority government had healthy surpluses.

"He's got a lot of people who can demonstrate against him and show placards," he said. "He doesn't need Danny Williams out there, I can tell you that much."

Williams and all but one member of his 44-member caucus will be campaigning against Conservative candidates in Newfoundland and Labrador's seven ridings. The Conservatives held three seats at dissolution, but only one incumbent — Avalon MP Fabian Manning — is running again.

Alleges Harper broke election promise on equalization

Williams fell out with the federal Conservatives in 2006, when Harper informed him the party was changing its long-held policy on excluding non-renewable energy resources from the national equalization formula. Williams has called the move a cynical attempt to win favour in provinces with more seats.

Industry Minister Jim Prentice told CBC News on Thursday that the Conservatives are not worried about the latest attack from Williams, who has been locked in a rhetorical war with the federal Tories for almost two years.

"The premier has a personal issue, a personal grudge that he evidently is not going to set aside," Prentice said in an interview.

Williams has also lashed out with a claim that Harper told him during a private meeting last fall that the Conservatives don't need Newfoundland and Labrador seats to form a majority government.

Harper's office has denied that any such comment comment was made.

N.L. voters think for themselves: Prentice

Asked Thursday whether the Conservatives need Newfoundland and Labrador seats, Prentice said he's confident that voters there will respond to the party's platform, including a warning that the Liberals' carbon tax plan could derail the burgeoning offshore oil industry.

As well, Prentice suggested that Williams's influence may be limited.

"Over the course of a lifetime, I have never met anybody from Newfoundland and Labrador who doesn't make their own decisions at the end of the day," he said.

Craig Westcott, a journalist who is running for the Conservatives in St. John's East, said  Williams's attack against the Conservatives boils down to vitriol launched against a single individual: Harper.

"Danny Williams is mad at the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, but do Newfoundlanders really want to pay for his anger at one man?" said Westcott, who attended Wednesday's speech in St. John's.

"Do they want to pay higher taxes because of the carbon tax if the Liberals form the next government? Do they want to give up things like the child care benefit, to feed one man's fury at another individual?"

Lord predicts cool reception for Williams

But Bernard Lord, the former New Brunswick premier who is co-chairman of the national Conservative campaign, predicted Williams won't get a favourable reception from other provincial leaders.

"Premier Williams can go anywhere in Canada and he'll get a stage, and people will listen to what he has to say, and premiers have that opportunity," Lord said in St. John's, visiting there on personal business.

"But, on the fundamentals, I don't think [Ontario Premier] Dalton McGuinty agrees with the fundamental position of Danny Williams and [Quebec Premier] Jean Charest does not agree with the fundamental position of Danny Williams, which is that Newfoundland should be able receive more equalization than it receives now."