Martha Stewart could get permit, Volpe says
CTV.ca News Staff

There's still a chance Martha Stewart could attend a Nova Scotia fall festival.

The domestic diva is being kept out of Canada because of her criminal record, but the minister in charge of the country's borders says she can apply for a special ministerial permit available to convicted criminals.

Immigration Minister Joe Volpe says Stewart hasn't applied yet, as far as he knows. "I guess we're anticipating an application," Volpe told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.

"Once we get an application we'll move as expeditiously as possible to ensure that any individual who wants to come into Canada and is going to make a contribution of sorts gets the opportunity to do so. That would be a good thing."

When asked if he thinks the process could be worked out before Sunday's planned visit, Volpe responded, "I always try to work things out."

Stewart was scheduled to attend the Pumpkin Festival in Windsor, N.S., on Sunday, but announced on her TV show that Canadian officials won't let her into the country because of her criminal record.

Stewart, 64, spent five months behind bars and nearly six more months in home confinement after being convicted of lying to authorities about a stock deal.

Speaking Wednesday, Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day said criminals can be refused entry to Canada if they are considered a danger to the public -- something he says Stewart is not.

News that Stewart wouldn't be attending the festival came as a huge disappointment for pumpkin festival organizer Howard Dill. "Truth be told I don't blame Martha. It's just someone in her network that must have fouled up," he told ATV News.

A TV production crew from one of Stewart's programs is still expected to attend events in Windsor and Falmouth this weekend.

If she had come for the festival, Stewart was expected to attend a parade and paddle a giant pumpkin across Lake Pesaquid, in the town's 500-metre Pumpkin Regatta.

The visit had been expected to last about five hours.

The one-woman dynasty has been free of her electronic bracelet since Sept. 1. She will be on probation until March 2007.

Stewart's conviction did not dampen efforts to expand her empire. Stewart currently has two U.S. television shows -- a daytime talk show and prime-time reality show, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.

Recent reports suggest she is working on a third show, which will be about a group of women who learn trades and help renovate a 125-year-old house.

Whether or not Stewart shows up in Nova Scotia, she'll still have made a big splash on a little maritime town. "People all across Canada and throughout the U.S. have been talking about the pumpkin festival, talking about the regatta," said Vanessa Roberts of the Town of Windsor.

Oprah would bad-mouth Canada until they let her in.

Canada would silence her with a juicy ham.

No, Oprah's anti-meat, remember?

Ham doesn't come from cows.

Hahahahahah