REGINA — Robert Latimer hopes a new federal government and a new judge on the Supreme Court will give him the clarity he is seeking regarding his conviction for killing his severely disabled daughter.

In a phone interview with The Canadian Press from a minimum-security prison in Victoria, the farmer from Wilkie, Sask., said he's baffled by how the high court could unanimously conclude he had other medical options for easing 12-year-old Tracy's pain.

He said he's written to the court several times asking what those are, but has received nothing back.

"New judge, new justice minister," Latimer said Wednesday. "The new government says there is going to be accountability so here we go, let's have some."

Latimer has never wavered in his belief that his actions were justified and is convinced that, if he were given a third trial, another jury would find him innocent.

"What I did was the right thing and I think a decent jury can understand that," he said.

On Oct. 24, 1993, with the rest of his family at church, Latimer wrapped Tracy in a blanket, put her in his pickup truck, ran a hose from the tail pipe into the cab and started the engine.

He was found guilty of second-degree murder at two trials despite his argument he killed his daughter to relieve her suffering.

At trial, Tracy's pediatric orthopedic surgeon testified that the girl, contorted by cerebral palsy, would likely face "incredible" pain after surgery to ease a permanently dislocated hip.

The procedure would have involved removing part of her upper leg to create a "flail limb" that would no longer be connected by bone. Tracy would eventually need the same surgery on her other hip, the family was told.

She could not talk or feed herself, but enjoyed listening to music on good days, the trial court heard.

Latimer was given the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, even though the jury had asked that he spend one year in jail and another under house arrest.

The verdict was upheld at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

In their decision, the high court justices cited undefined "more effective" medication that Latimer could have given Tracy.

Both the surgeon and a family doctor had told the Latimers that Tylenol was the only thing Tracy could have once released from hospital. Anything stronger could have shut down her fragile respiratory system, Latimer has said.

His supporters have pushed the federal government to release him from prison, but Latimer has resisted asking for clemency himself.

"What is clemency? It wouldn't dissolve the life sentence or anything," he said.

Still, his supporters say they will renew their push for clemency with the new Conservative government.

"Every time there are new ears, we will try to speak into them, and we will even try to speak into old ears several times," said Alan Borovoy, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, one of the groups leading the charge.

The association argues that Latimer's situation is a prime example of why mandatory minimum sentences don't work.

Last summer, a delegation, including former Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney and former Tory immigration minister Ronald Atkey, met with Liberal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler to pitch their case.

In Ottawa on Wednesday, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper wouldn't say whether his government would revisit the Latimer case.

"This is a criminal justice matter and obviously, in the normal course of events, governments don't interfere in the prosecution or in sentencing in criminal justice cases," Harper told reporters.

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities says Latimer should serve his full term.

"Our view is that to serve a lesser sentence is to devalue the lives of persons with disabilities and to put other persons' lives at risk," Laurie Beachell, council co-ordinator, said from Winnipeg.

"I would be surprised if a government, whose agenda was tougher penalties and mandatory sentencing, would make exceptions."

Latimer is eligible for day parole in December 2007.