POT-SMOKING CLERIC JOINS TORY RACE

Cambridge man latest to join list of leadership hopefuls

OTTAWA - He wants to give every Canadian child an acre of land at age 1,
wipe out marijuana laws and pardon all those convicted under them, including
himself.

Reverend Brother Michael Baldasaro, minister of the Church of the Universe,
has declared himself a candidate for the federal Progressive Conservative
party leadership.

He has scheduled a news conference Thursday inside the Parliament buildings.

``Bless you brother, thanks for calling,'' Baldasaro said in a telephone
interview from church headquarters in Cambridge.

He said there are about 80,000 ``mostly low-key'' members of the church in
Ontario. ``They don't talk about the church much, because the police just
come and bust them.''

Joining Baldasaro in the increasingly wacky race to replace Jean Charest are
businessman John Long, who issued a news release yesterday attacking the
``Toronto and Ottawa Bank Loving Press,'' an operations supervisor at a
Saskatoon courier company whose name is Brad Cabana, freelance technical
writer Scott Paterson, and anti-free trade crusader David Orchard.

To date, the only candidates with widespread media coverage have been former
prime minister Joe Clark, who is attempting a political comeback at age 59,
and Hugh Segal, 46, one-time chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Also running are Montreal lawyer Michael Fortier and former Manitoba cabinet
minister Brian Pallister.

Long is so frustrated at the lack of attention that he filed a complaint to
the Ontario Press Council.

``They prefer to call John a nobody, a little known essentric (sic) and a
long shot, rather than publish policies and structural changes which John
advocates to solve the serious problems facing Canadians,'' he wrote in
yesterday's statement.

Baldasaro, 49, who has run unsuccessfully for mayor of Hamilton and Guelph,
also has an action plan for Canada.

It includes returning all properties seized by police in the war against
marijuana. The minister said he smokes pot.

``Goodness, yes, for medicinal and spiritual reasons. We believe the tree of
life is for healing the nation,'' he said, adding that he's been in and out
of jail on marijuana busts since 1984.

His other policies include removing sexist references in the national
anthem, extinguishing all references to the monarchy, reducing government
pensions ``to what the least of us live on,'' and giving all Canadian
mothers $10,000 when their children turn one.

``We're a non-denominational church. We have two rules: don't hurt yourself
and don't hurt anyone else.''

The Conservative party will conduct a one-member, one-vote system of
electing its new leader on Oct. 24. If a run-off vote is required, it will
be held Nov. 14.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett