MP Keddy in tug-of-war as budget vote looms

Nova Scotia Conservative MP Gerald Keddy has a big decision to make:remain loyal tohisgovernment orside with his Tory cousins at home and vote againstthe budget.

The South Shore-St. Margaret'sMP said he had a "good" meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper ahead of Tuesday's final vote.

"It was always my intent to support the budget," he said.

Keddy also met briefly with Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald, who is in Ottawa to lobby MPs to vote against the budget. Keddy couldn't be reached for comment after that meeting.

The Progressive Conservative premier claims the budget offers new equalization formulas that undermine the benefits of a 2005 deal that protects the province's offshore oil and gas revenues from federal clawbacks.

The government denies that claim.

Keddy said as far as his constituents are concerned, they want the federal government to live up to the deal. However, he also believes the province needs a voice in government.

"Certainly the idea of sitting in the opposition benches is not one that I'm enthralled with," he said.

Another Conservative MP from Nova Scotia, Bill Casey, was tossed from the party caucus last week after he sided with the opposition in an earlier budget vote.

MacDonald has met with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, the third Conservative MP fromNova Scotia, but he would not comment on what was said.

MacKay would not answers questions from reporters on Tuesday.

Williams makes appeal to Keddy

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams, whose province has a similar offshore accord, is also appealing to Keddy to vote against the federal budget.

"He was brought to the Prime Minister's Office last night so God knows what kind of a bill of goods he's been sold," the premier said. "But if Mr. Keddy wants to stand up for his province, then he has an opportunity to do so."

Williams said he has given up on the three Conservative MPs in Newfoundland, who are continuing to back the prime minister's stand on the Atlantic accords.

The third and final reading of the budget legislation takes place Tuesday afternoon in the House of Commons.