Stand Up for Pork

Oh Christ. Remind me why I should care about this election?

Once a critic of business subsidies, Harper says ACOA budget stays HALIFAX (CP) - Stephen Harper, once a tough critic of government loans and grants for business, promised Thursday to maintain the budget of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. The Conservative leader told a newspaper editorial board just last year "that those kinds of programs have to go" when he was asked about the future of the agency's loans and grants to Atlantic businesses. At the time, he left open the question of whether ACOA would continue to exist as the agency to carry out "infrastructure investments that are done on a non-partisan basis." But during a campaign stop in Halifax on Thursday, Harper made another of his recent and subtle shifts to the centre, disputing he'd ever suggested the days of business subsidies in the region should die. "We support ACOA," he said during a news conference. "We want to see ACOA work in a way that's not partisan or politically motivated, that assists the development of business in this part of the country, assists the development of infrastructure and research and development. "We believe there's an important role for ACOA and we've been clear on what that is. And we're going to maintain the budget for ACOA."