20.1.06

Nem tudo vai mal nas Américas...

Stephen Harper, whose party is poised to end 13 years of Liberal Party rule when Canadians go to the polls in three days, said the Conservatives would strive to improve relations with Canada's "closest ally" if they win Monday's national vote.

Prime Minister Paul Martin has warned traditionally liberal Canadians that Harper poses as a moderate but supports the U.S. effort in Iraq, opposes abortion and would overturn laws approving gay marriage.###

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Harper's Conservatives have held a solid lead over the Liberals in the polls in the last campaign stretch before Canadians elect a new leader and the 308-seat House of Commons.

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On Thursday, Martin painted his Conservative rivals as "extreme" right-wingers and said Harper intended to stack the Supreme Court with conservative judges.

"This is no abstract issue; we have a vacancy to be filled on the Supreme Court bench," Martin said. "Never have we seen a major political party with such a conservative agenda as this one — an agenda really drawn from the extreme right in the United States."

Martin insists Harper supports the war in Iraq, which most Canadians disdain. Harper has said Ottawa was right not to send troops to Iraq, but should have publicly offered Washington its moral support in the war.