The prime minister said he doesn't need Newfoundland and Labrador's support to win a future federal election, according to Premier Danny Williams.
The premier told reporters Monday that when he met with Stephen Harper on Nov. 30 in St. John's, the prime minister made a "very telling" comment that revealed his open disdain toward his province.
"At one point during that meeting he said to me: 'I don't need Newfoundland and Labrador to win an election,'" said Williams, who has been embroiled in a bitter feud with the prime minister for more than a year over the province's ability to retain its offshore oil revenues.
"From that point on, I knew where his head was going to be and where his attitude was, and the kind of disdain in which he treats Newfoundland and Labrador. But you know I didn't respond at the time, I let it go in the interest of having a cordial meeting, I perceived it as an attempt to bait me into a confrontation during that meeting, and the bait was not taken."
The accusation drew an unequivocal denial from the Prime Minister's Office.
A spokesman for the PMO told NTV: "The premier's comments are false."
But Williams said smaller provinces should take note of the prime minister's alleged comment.
"If that's his attitude and he doesn't feel that Newfoundland and Labrador is significant because it only has seven seats, then provinces like Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the territories and others have to be very, very concerned if they don't fill his political appetite,'' he said.
Williams had asked Harper for $10 billion in compensation over 15 years for breaking a promise over the equalization program.
When they met for the first ministers meeting last Friday in Ottawa, Williams said the prime minister indicated his response to the request won't be favourable.
"When we finally went to the meeting as I was going into the door, he said basically, these aren't his exact words, that 'by the way you'll have a response hopefully next week -- but you may not be pleased with it.'"
"The general gist of what he is saying ... is that he wasn't leaning our way.''
After a month-and-a-half of relative peace between the two levels of government, the premier said he's now resuming his campaign to defeat all federal Conservative candidates in this province whenever the next election happens.
"I'll be very strongly, strongly advocating that there be no Conservative candidates elected in this province," he said.
With a report from NTV's Michael Connors
