YARMOUTH, N.S. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper brushed off fresh charges of plagiarism Saturday, saying phrases in one of his speeches -- lines apparently first spoken by a former Ontario premier -- are nothing more than political boilerplate.
The Liberals have twice this week accused Harper of cribbing from other political leaders.
On Friday, a Liberal news release compared lines from a 2002 speech by former Conservative premier Mike Harris with a Harper address given two months later. Three sentences are nearly identical.
A few days earlier, it was revealed that large parts of a speech Harper gave as Opposition leader in 2003 -- urging Canada to send troops to Iraq -- were copied from an address by then-Australian prime minister John Howard.
Former Harper speechwriter Owen Lippert resigned from the Tory campaign after admitting he plagiarized Howard's speech. Lippert maintains Harper knew nothing about it.
Speaking at a campaign event in Yarmouth, N.S., Harper scoffed at the notion a pattern of plagiarism was emerging.
"I don't see any correspondence. I think, in the other case, it was clear that large portions of his speech had been used and not attributed. That, obviously, is not acceptable and I'm very disappointed that that occurred," he said.
"In this case, we're talking about a couple of sentences of fairly standard political rhetoric."
However, lines from Harris' speech to the Montreal Economic Institute on Dec. 4, 2002, bear striking resemblance to Harper's Feb. 19, 2003, address to the House of Commons.
Harris said:
"Thinking about things from a new and different perspective is never easy. It takes courage, conviction and the strength to know that in taking a new and innovative course, you are making change for the better. ... Genuine leaders are the ones who do the right thing."
Harper said:
"Thinking about things from a new and different perspective is not about reading the polls and having focus group tests. It is never easy because it takes courage, conviction and the strength to know that taking a new and innovative course is going to make change for the better. Genuine leaders are the ones who do the right thing."
The Conservatives won't name the speechwriter who penned the lines and have accused the Liberals of trying to divert attention from their economic policies.
The Tories unveiled another plank of their own economic plan Saturday by promising $300 million in new funding for the West, Quebec and Atlantic Canada to help those regions cope with economic hardship.
Harper said the money will restore a regional development funding cut by the previous Liberal government in 2004 and 2005.
The spending will be spread over four years to the Department of Western Economic Diversification, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for Quebec Regions and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
Harper said the spending promise will help create jobs in those parts of the country.
The Tory leader has spent the last two days criss-crossing New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, where the Conservatives hope to pick up votes.
Harper was to attend a campaign rally in Moncton, N.B., on Saturday afternoon before returning to Ottawa.
