Prime Minister Stephen Harper making campaign swing through Yarmouth on Saturday

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt is hoping for a large turnout at the Democracy 250 barbecue he’s hosting in Beacon Park on Saturday. But what he wasn’t expecting when he planned the event was that Prime Minister Stephen Harper would be one of the ones waiting in line for a hotdog.

Prime Minister Harper is going to be making a campaign swing through Yarmouth this Saturday, Oct. 4. He is expected to make a policy announcement while in the West Nova riding. Suggestions are that announcement will take place at 10 a.m.

Then the prime minister will make an appearance at the Beacon Park Democracy 250 event, which begins at 11 a.m. and runs to 2 p.m.

Hurlburt says he was surprised when he got the phone call Tuesday that the prime minister would be in Yarmouth on Saturday, and that he would be attending the barbecue.

“It was a shock to me. I had no idea he was going to be in our riding. But I welcome him and I’d like to talk to him about our ferry and airport and our highways,” says Hurlburt.

The West Nova riding is held by Liberal MP Robert Thibault , who has won the seat in the last three federal elections. Greg Kerr, who campaigned for the Conservatives during the last election in 2006, is again trying to win the seat for the Conservatives.

Prior to Thibault, Mark Muise held the seat for the Progressive Conservatives.

As for the Democracy 250 barbecue on Saturday, the event is free and open to the public. The intent of Democracy 250 is to celebrate 250 years of representative government in Nova Scotia and to encourage people to participate in the voting process, particularly young people. Former Premier John Hamm, a co-chair of Democracy 250 with former premier Russell McClellan, may also be at the event.

“They did this (a Democracy 250 barbecue) in Cape Breton and they had 3,700 people out,” says Hurlburt.

Meanwhile, Stephen Harper has been in the headlines this week because of a speech he, then as leader of the Oppostion, delivered in the House of Commons in March 2003 lending support to the war in Iraq. The speech, it's been revealed, appears to have been heavily plagiarized from a speech delivered two days earlier by then Austalian Prime Minister John Howard. A longtime Conservative speechwriter has admitted he was "overzealous" in copying segments of another world leader's speech, saying he did so because he was pressed for time. Owen Lippert, in claiming responsibility, said no superiors in his office, nor Harper, was aware of what he had done at the time.

Harper and the other party leaders, meanwhile, will be participating in English and French-language debates this week, prior to his visit to Yarmouth the weekend.

Given the economic turmoil occurring in the United States and other parts of the world, including here at home, the economy will feature prominently in the debates.