PM thinks N.L. ridings don't matter, Williams says

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams launched a new salvo against Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday, accusing him of considering the voters of his province insignificant.

Williams, still smarting from what he characterized as a snub at Friday's first ministers meeting, told reporters on Monday about a conversation he had with Harper in November.

Williams said his "Anyone But Conservative" campaign is back on track, after Friday's meeting came and went without an indication from Harper about how to resolve a feud over equalization.

"There was a comment that was made — a very telling comment which I haven't shared with you which was made during the meeting which we had on November 30," Williams told reporters.

"At one point during that meeting he said to me, 'I don't need Newfoundland and Labrador to win an election.' You know, from that point on I knew where his head was going to be and what his attitude was," Williams said.

Newfoundland and Labrador has only seven seats in the House of Commons.

But Dimitri Soudas, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, said Harper never said anything about writing off Newfoundland and Labrador.

"I think that's a bit of a stretch, and a total exaggeration on the part of the premier," Soudas said in an interview.

Williams's campaign against Harper has drawn national attention since October 2006, when he said the federal Tories could expect a "big goose egg" if they followed through on a plan to include offshore petroleum revenues in a new equalization formula.

As well, Williams has been courted by leaders of other federal parties, although the Progressive Conservative premier is not endorsing other particular candidates or parties.

Williams told reporters Monday that he felt Harper had been trying to "bait" him. He said he decided at the time to let the comments go.

Leading up to the 2006 federal election, Harper had pledged, in writing, to exclude non-renewable resources from equalization, the federal program designed to provide a comparable level of social services across the country.

Later that year, however, Harper indicated a change of heart, and the 2007 budget enforced a new formula that incorporates half of oil and gas revenues.

An independent analysis, by Memorial University economist Wade Locke, showed that Newfoundland and Labrador stood to lose as much as $11 billion.

Williams, who had engaged in a bitter war of words with former prime minister Paul Martin before winning a new Atlantic Accord on offshore revenues, had asked Harper in November to consider finding alternatives to $10 billion in equalization losses.

Williams said he found it insulting that Harper had nothing to say to him on Friday about the matter.

Meanwhile, Williams said he is not planning to campaign actively across Canada when the next federal election is called.

"I will [however] be accepting speaking engagements, and I have lots of requests for speaking engagements across the country to express our view," he said.