Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 Source: Toronto Star (Canada) Section: A6 Contact: Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Author: William Walker, Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau Chief 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