Never before has one cartoonist been so completely wrong

Aislin, April 23, 2010

He seems, however, to have belatedly recognized his error!

More for those who are paying attention

Even Saskatchewan police chiefs support keeping the long gun registry.

In case you are paying attention

Not everybody on the prairies thinks that repealing the gun registry is a good idea.

The gun lobby writes. Don't tell anyone. It's a secret.

They don't like the sound of Michael Ignatieff's whip.

Apparently, they don't like telling newspapers that they are paid gun lobby shills and registered lobbyists either.

After Simcoe County's last astroturf letter campaign, you would think that newspapers in that part of Canada might do a little more research before publishing letters to the editor.

Does somebody need a beating? No, someone needs a suing.

Tonight, BigCityLib highlights a press release from the Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security calling on the Liberal Caucus to beat Michael Ignatieff until he is black and blue.

But that's not the worst of it.

Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz goes onto allege things that are likely actionable in a court of law (emphasis added):

Pro-registry groups such as the Coalition for Gun Control and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) are politically-motivated lobby groups that derive financial support from pro-registry sources.

"Their positions are tainted and suspect in my view, because their endorsement can be bought," says Breitkreuz. "CGI Group is a major registry software contractor, and a major contributor to the CACP coffers. Could it be that CACP support for the registry is financially motivated? It is also noteworthy that the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail ran stories when the CACP’s ethics advisor resigned last spring over the association’s endorsement of their own contributors. Lobby groups have been very successful in their public relations efforts over the years and they have misinformed and unsuspecting public at large."

Pot, kettle, black

Garry Breitkreuz might think that the public is misinformed but that doesn't give him license to be wrong or defence in a civil action.

The CGI gun registry contract was cancelled in early 2007 by the Harper government.

More than three years later, it would be stupid - at best - to suggest that a company that has no interest in a project is bribing the supporters of sensible gun control.

It would be stupider knowing that those supporters were active on this very issue even before the gun registry bill was passed - 15 years ago.

Call in the lawyers

If I was providing advice to CGI, I'd be telling them to call in the lawyers.

And for extra amusement, I'd advise them to call on the Prime Minister to remove Breitkreuz from the Committee Chair. Clearly, somebody making such irresponsible and unfounded allegations isn't fit to fill the role.

Private member's astroturfing

From a political point of view, Bill C-391 - the Harper Government's Throne Speech endorsed initiative to repeal the long gun registry - is not a green shoot of fresh policy.

It's Parliamentary astroturf.

This Bill was, is and will always be a government initiative. It is a panicked response to a political miscalculation.

This Bill only appeared after the Prime Minister's Office killed the to the last piece of gun registry astroturf - a Bill that would have allowed machine guns at shooting ranges.

The Tories knew that they could not pass a government bill to do this. They know that responsible opposition parties would whip the vote on a government bill.

That's why the Harper Government's approach found its voice in a private member's bill complete with Conservative Party radio ads.

Even the Tory website recognizes this Bill as an initiative of "Our Conservative government".

The Tories obviously thought that the Liberals and the NDP would ignore the astroturfing and fight amongst themselves while supporting what is at every stage a government Bill.

And they were damned near right.

Belatedly, the Liberals figured out that they were being gamed. They realized that the Harper Government was astroturfing Private Member's Business.

This is really about an independent role of Parliament and Parliamentarians.

The NDP used to care about things like that.

Now they just talk about it.

C'est le gros bon sens

That's how one of the police officers who responded to the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre described Michael Ignatieff's bold decision to whip Liberal MPs against the Harper government's long stated plan to repeal the long gun registry.

It's too bad that the leadership of the party that represents the site of this terrible tragedy doesn't share the same courage.

UPDATE: Not all rural New Democrats think that scrapping the long gun registry makes sense.

In David Cameron's Britain

10 year olds can serve in the Royal Navy.