Harper keeps his hands off Caledonia disputeSubject omitted from address to business crowdLONDON, ONT. -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper boasted of his new government's accomplishments at a noon-hour address yesterday in this city that is less than an hour's drive from a tense native blockade in Caledonia. But, despite the proximity to the site of what has become one of Canada's most hotly contested aboriginal land disputes, Mr. Harper told reporters he had no intention of visiting the site, explaining that the trip would serve no useful purpose. In fact, by yesterday afternoon, only a handful of protesters remained in the area where, until Tuesday, blockades had been erected and violence had flared. As the conflict gave way to a state of relative calm, the Prime Minister maintained that his government has only a limited role to play in determining an eventual solution. "It really is a provincial claims matter and ultimately a provincial law-enforcement issue," he said after the speech to the London Chamber of Commerce. "Our government has been involved at every stage in consultation with provincial authorities so we think that's the appropriate way to handle it." Some of the people involved in the standoff say there has been a lack of leadership on the part of governments to resolve the dispute. Mr. Harper said he understands their concerns. "I have a lot of sympathy for a lot of people who have done nothing wrong and been severely inconvenienced by this," he said. "But, nevertheless, it's been our hope all along that, working with the province, that this matter can be addressed in a way that is satisfactory to everybody." Mr. Harper did not broach the sensitive subject of the standoff in his address to the business crowd. Instead he focused on the tax cuts, anti-crime measures and accountability initiatives introduced by his government since it took office in January. And he warned that the opposition could obstruct those efforts. "We promise to work to unite our country, to crack down on crime, to build a more mature relationship with the United States, and to play a leadership role in international affairs," he told the crowd. But it won't be easy to continue that work in a minority Parliament where support can change on a dime, he said. "We got a wakeup call last week. Our government agreed to a vote to back our men and women in Afghanistan by extending their mission, a mission they were sent on by the previous government," Mr. Harper told the crowd. "We had all-party support for the process and we had consistent support from the Liberals and the Bloc for the mission going back many years. But on the day of the vote they switched their position. They switched their position on the troops just so they could vote against the government. It shows that in this minority Parliament, nothing is sacred, not even our troops, and there is nothing you can take for granted." Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh said that from his perspective, suggesting the opposition voted against extending the mission merely to vote against the government is beneath the dignity of someone occupying the office of Prime Minister. "Only someone who is incapable of seeing issues in anything but a shallow political light would say such a thing about other politicians while all of us are involved in discussing and debating one of the most difficult issues of our time," Mr. Dosanjh said. The rural area around this Southwestern Ontario city has always been perceived as a bastion of small-c conservatism. But the audience that greeted Mr. Harper displayed less than the usual enthusiasm. Other speeches given by the Prime Minister since his election in January have been punctuated by loud applause and have ended in standing ovations. Yesterday's address prompted polite clapping when he talked about the settlement of the softwood lumber dispute and brought only a quarter of those in attendance to their feet when it ended. Meanwhile, Mr. Harper told a London TV station that he's going to avoid journalists on Parliament Hill because they are biased against his government. He said he is having problems with reporters in Ottawa that a Liberal prime minister would never face, and so he will take his message out on the road and deal with the less hostile local media. "Unfortunately, the press gallery has taken the view they are going to be the opposition to the government," Mr. Harper told London's A-Channel. "They don't ask questions at my press conferences now. "We'll just get the message out on the road. There's lots of media in the country who do want to ask me questions and hear what the government is doing." The comments were sparked by an incident Tuesday when two dozen Ottawa reporters walked out on a Harper event when he refused to take their questions. The Prime Minister does not want to hold press conferences unless his staff choose which journalists ask questions from a list they compile. 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