POTWELL SWAYED?

In his bizarre bid to replace himself as leader of the Canadian
Alliance, is Stockwell Day courting Canadian pot-heads?

In his bizarre bid to replace himself as leader of the Canadian
Alliance, is Stockwell Day courting Canadian pot-heads? A visibly
stunned Day evaded that question Tuesday night, but the seeds of this
intriguing suggestion were planted by Day himself shortly after his
federal debut in a B.C. by-election, where one of his adversaries was
Marc-Boris St-Maurice, leader of the federal Marijuana Party.

Day, who smoked dope in his youth, told a Kelowna all-candidate's
meeting he was "working secretly, with Boris, to legalise pot." He
might have been joking, but consider this: under his leadership,
Alliance MP Keith Martin has sponsored a private members bill to
decriminalize the herb, while party justice critic Randy White now
chairs a Commons committee studying how to lighten Canada's drug laws.

Even famed hack-for-hire Matthew Johnson, fired last year for
imitating his boss Rahim Jaffer on a radio call-in show, went to work
for marijuana seed guru Marc Emery when the latter organized the B.C.
Marijuana Party. Johnson was promptly rehired by the Alliance to work
in Day's office.

At Day's leadership launch Tuesday night, this reporter approached
and asked him if he "was courting the marijuana vote."

Day's wife chuckled. Day himself demurred. Moments later he was seen
shaking hands with the leader of the Marijuana Party, so I naturally
moved in and repeated the question.

"I'm sorry," Day said to Boris, "we can't talk here. Some guy's
following me with a tape recorder."

Asked if he thought a re-elected Day would continue to pursue
marijuana reform, St-Maurice hesitated.

"I really don't see anything to be optimistic about," he said. "But
of all the declared candidates, he's the only one with a pot record -
er, at least, 'on the record.'"

Stay tuned.