POT-WORSHIPPING VICAR WANTS SHOT AT TORY JOB

OTTAWA -- Reporters called it "Cheech and Chong go to Ottawa."

In one of the most bizarre silly season stories, Reverend Brother Michael
Baldasaro, a self-styled vicar of a pot-worshipping "church," prepared to
announce his Tory leadership candidacy on Parliament Hill yesterday by
smoking a joint.

He then appeared in the media room beneath the House of Commons with his
manager and fellow-"reverend brother" and pot-smoker Walter A. Tucker, to
make his pitch.

Full-bearded, dressed in hemp shorts, hats and T-shirts, they vowed to
decriminalize marijuana and pay down the federal debt with a dope tax if
Baldasaro becomes prime minister.

Baldasaro's "church" is an abandoned foundry in Cambridge, Ont., where he
and Tucker share a trailer.

He said he has smoked marijuana since he was 21.

Copyright (c) 1998, Canoe Limited Partnership.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski