Another NDP candidate takes yet another position (at least for this party) on the life saving long gun registry

Interlake Spectator (Manitoba)
April 27, 2011

Palsson (NDP) – "I would introduce a private members bill to let the municipalities decide whether or not they want it—Let the cities have it if they want," he said.

Disturbing in too many ways to count

Today we learn that a handpicked Harper Tory gun control advisor and the man responsible for the largest single terrorist attack on US soil prior to 9/11 found inspiration from the same book.

Think about that for a moment.

It's not that hard to do the right thing on the long gun registry. So why won't the NDP do that?

Sudbury Star
April 23, 2011

Rejecting criticism from Nickel Belt Conservative candidate Lynne Reynolds that he had "lied" about the registry, Gravelle said he simply changed his mind.

"I've gotten emails from gun owners who've registered their guns and can't see what the problem is," Gravelle said.

"I got an email from a police officer forwarded to me which read; 'A lot of police officers have been shot through the door. I want to know what's in that house and how many are in the house. At the end of the day, I want to go home to my two boys,'" he said.

"Is that too much to ask? I didn't lie. I changed my mind."

If Jack Layton won't put vulnerable Canadians ahead of politics as usual, he won't get my vote (and he doesn't deserve your's)

There's nothing to suggest that November 25, 2010  - the International Day to End Violence against Women - was an unusual day in Alberta.

On that day, 816 women and 771 children sought assistance from Alberta's 42 family violence shelters.

Of those seeking assistance, 4.5% of the women had been threatened with a gun.

That's why the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters publicly supports the long gun registry.

And that's why it's so very disappointing that Jack Layton would rather play dishonorable politics for a few angry white guy votes.

An open letter to @jacklayton on the future of the Senate

April 23, 2011

Dear Jack,

Recent media reports suggest that you see yourself running to be my next Prime Minister.

As you know, the Harper Tories now hold a majority in the Senate.  as you also know, that Harper Tory Senate caucus is more than prepared to use its majority to block the will of the democratically elected House of Commons.

I know that the NDP platform calls for the abolition of the Senate. 

However, it is irresponsible to just dismiss the Senate as a useless bag of hacks and insiders.  Many Senators have taken the time to become specialists in areas that MPs simply don't have time or the background to focus upon. 

The work on adult literacy by Alberta Liberal Senator Joyce Fairbarn is the sort of focus that Canada would lose if the Senate were abolished or substantially reformed.  And that's unfortunate.

We're certainly not opposed to abolishing the Senate but we're still not sold on that being the best option. Nevertheless, Senate abolition or reform would require major Constitutional reform.  It's not going to be quick. 

In the meantime, a Layton government would be expected by Canadians to govern and that Harper Tory majority would only continue to grow as Senators retire.

The NDP platform is clear on who would not be appointed to the Senate:

In the meantime, to limit Senate abuses, we will bar failed candidates and party insiders from being appointed to the Senate, and ban senators from fundraising for political parties.

That leaves three questions:

1) Would you appoint Senators to break the Harper Tory majority in the Upper House?

2) We know what criteria you would use to exclude Senate candidates. What criteria would you use to select Senators?

3) What caucus would those NDP-appointed Senators sit in?

Once upon a time, the NDP cared about fighting gun violence

Until this election, every Jack Layton-led NDP campaign platform has included proposals to deal with illegal guns and gun violence.

These include:

2008: Halt the illegal importation of handguns from the United States and target the sale of illegal weapons via the Internet.

2006: Hand guns have no place in our cities.

2004: Banning the sale of all assault rifles and automatic weapons and prohibiting their import. Citizens in rural and remote areas and recreational hunters aren't using these weapons, which have no place in civilian societies.

But in 2011, the NDP platform no longer speaks to assault weapon bans, excluding handguns from our cities or even targeting illegal Internet weapons sales.  The 2011 NDP platform doesn't so much as even use the word gun, firearm or weapon.  And, of course, there is no mention of the life saving long gun registry.

Maybe that's why the gun lobby now endorses New Democrats.

NDP happily embraces gun lobby endorsement

It one thing to have been endorsed by the organized gun lobby for opposing the life saving long gun registry as a number of NDP MPs and candidates have been.

That's disturbing enough.

It's a whole different degree of disturbing to see an NDP candidate leaping in the gun lobby's arms like a long lost lover.

Ick.

Not all NDP candidates are comfortable with Jack Layton's disingenuous gun registry approach

Kelowna Capital News
April 22, 2011

Finnis said he personally supports the registry and said he was disappointed some NDP MPs did not.

He said Canadians have to register their cars and boats, so they should also have to register their guns.

On responses to gun lobby holocaust analogies

In the United States, when radical gun owner groups compare themselves to the victims of Nazi Holocaust, politicians speak out.

In Canada, when a handpicked advisor to the Harper Tory government compares hard working Canadian cops to Hitler's SS in the middle of an election campaign, there's nothing but crickets.

It's really kind of sad.

NDP throws vulnerable Canadians under the bus as fast as the Harper Tories do staffers

This time, it's Vancouver Island North Ronna-Rae Leonard NDP candidate who is trying to be all things to all people:

Leonard did not take a stand on the registry itself but said the private members bill to abolish the registry was an opportunity for MPs to vote independently.

Which turns out to be nothing to nobody.

Another New Democrat throws vulnerable Canadians to the wolves

Lacombe Globe
April 20, 2011

What should be done about the long gun registry?

Scrap the unrestricted (long gun) registry, but the restricted (handgun) registry should stay.

Who'd've thunk it?

74% of Canadians support Canada's integrated gun gun control program.

So why is Jack Layton still pandering to the 22% who oppose Canada's life saving long gun registry?

Oh look!

Yet another way for the NDP not to defend the life saving long gun registry.

The NDP candidate said one of the major issues on the Conservatives' agenda is the abolition of the national long-gun registry.

While he's personally ambivalent about the registry, Alli said, he'd like to see a national referendum held about it to get the people's vote on it.

Stephen Harper is no George Bush

Extremism in the pursuit of a goal is still extremism 

A couple of days ago, we wrote about a hand picked Harper gun policy advisor who compared Canadian police officers to Hitler's genocidal SS.

It reminded us of George H.W. Bush's resignation from the National Rifle Association when its leadership refered to American law enforcement officers as jack booted thugs.

But then nothing happened.

And we still wonder how a man who openly compares Canadian cops to extermination camp guards can have the ear of any Canadian government, even this Harper Tory government.

Because Stephen Harper doesn't like icky girls

"The successor to the throne is a man," Harper said. "The next successor to the throne is a man. I don't think Canadians want to open a debate on the monarchy or constitutional matters at this time.

What if you had a rally...

...and a-b-o-u-t  t-w-e-n-t-y people showed up?

(Yes, we used hyphens to make the crowd look bigger.)

Would Quebec NDP MPs campaign for Pauline Marois' yes?

Much as been written recently about the NDP's recent breakthrough in polls in Quebec.

Like Brian Mulroney, the NDP seems to be drawing well among the so called "soft nationalist" vote.

New Democrats tell Quebecois voters that their party:

1. Recognizes that Quebec is a nation within Canada;

2. Promotes a cooperative and asymmetrical federalism that recognizes the right of Quebec to opt out with full compensation;

3. Recognizes the right of Quebeckers to decide of their own future.

Does number 3 that mean that NDP MPs from Quebec (if more than zero are elected) would be free to campaign with the Parti québécois to break up Canada in the next referendum?

We sure hope that the only answer is no.

Because talking to vulnerable people is icky

Kootenay-Columbia NDP candidate Mark Shmigelsky has a gun registry plan. It's not a very good plan but it is his plan:

If the gun registry issues comes again I will sit down with Rod & Gun clubs to find how we all feel, whether we are for it or against it, and that's how we are going to vote. That's direct democracy, we need more of that.

And then he's going to talk to Pentacostal churches to figure out whether he's for or against equal marriage.

Your daily Harper Tory

Fighting the gun registry.

Fighting democratic engagement.

Just another day in Stephen Harper's Canada.

Another simple question about the long gun registry

If an experienced NDP candidate in rural Central Alberta can stand up for the long gun registry, why won't Jack Layton?

Handpicked Harper Tory firearms advisor compares Canadian cops to Hitler's SS

What is about the individuals appointed to the Harper Tory Government's radical anti-gun control advisory panel that makes Canadian families nervous?

Is it that a bunch of them are also on the board of directors of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA), Canada's NRA endorsed gun lobby?

Not really, but that certainly suggests the lack of imagination that went into the creation of the panel in the first place.  Of course, the panel reflects the sort of views that the Harper Tories want to hear on complex public safety issues.

It's what panel members say when they think no one is paying attention that should concern Canadians.  These people shape the Stephen Harper's gun control policy. They have access to Stephen Harper's ministers and MP.

Two easy questions

Is Stephen Harper's Conservative Party proud of their hand picked appointee when he equates Canadian law enforcement officers doing their dangerous job to Hitler's SS?

Does that board member speak for the Canadian Shooting Sports Association when he compares Canada's hard working cops to Mussolini's Black Shirts?

But that's exactly what Harper Tory firearms advisor and CSSA Board Member Mike Ackermann did in today's Canadian Firearms Digest (see CFDigest excerpt below).

CSSA members will be able to find out if Dr. Ackermann's views are shared by their association at this weekend's Annual General Meeting in London, Ontario.

The AGM notice says that Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz will also be in attendance.

And one for which the answer should be obvious

Maybe someone will be brave enough to ask him what his party, if it is re-elected, will do about a hand picked appointee who compares Canadian cops to genocidal murderers. 

We'd sure like to be a fly on the wall for that discussion.

Cdn-Firearms Digest

Wednesday, April 13 2011

Volume 14 : Number 381

------------------------------

Date: Tue, April 12, 2011 9:44 pm

From: "M.J. Ackermann, MD"
Subject: Re: Firearms owner accused of assault causes Hwy. 11 shutdown

So all it takes now to have the Black Shirts bomb your house and take you down is an unsubstantiated call by a disgruntled whoever. Thank god this guy didn't have a comb in his hand when the Black Shirts got to him.

As I predicted a few years ago, the escalation of police response from a polite knock on the door and discussion to SS type raid is the direct result of gun licensing and registration coupled with the pogrom of cultural genocide that has been going on for the last decade and more.  Sooner or later they are gonna start shooting us first and asking questions later.

Sounds to me like his guns were stored lawfully - as long as his room or his closet was locked when he was away. Of course he was in the house when the Black Shirts attacked, so the guns were in use. See the Carlos case.

I wonder what the "public mischief" charge is all about. Was the original 911 complaint found to be false?

- --
M.J. Ackermann, MD (Mike)
Rural Family Physician,
Sherbrooke, NS

mikeack@XXXXXXXXXX.ca

"Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst".

------------------------------

Who's channelling the Chairman now?

Marxist-Leninist endorses Stephen Harper's gun registry repeal plan.

Your gun lobby approved NDP candidates

Canada's oldest gun lobby group recently released its Federal Election Candidate Grades and Guide for Voters.

It's little surprise to learn that the Conservative Party has the most candidates with a passing grade.  They remain committed to continuing to talk about repealing the life saving long gun registry.

With the NDP's refusal to take a clear yes or no stand on the future of the life saving long gun registry, it's not really a surprise to see that the NDP has the highest number of gun lobby approved candidates among the opposition parties represented in the last Parliament. 

The surprise is that actually voting with the Harper Tories on the long gun registry repeal wasn't enough to get a pass.  Despite their votes, Jim Maloway, Bruce Hyer, John Rafferty and Dennis Bevington still received a failing grade from "Canada's Most Effective Firearms Owners Association".

Those failing grades leave a very obvious question.  Why did Lois Boone, Nathan Cullen, John Bouché, Niki Ashton, Lawrence Joseph and Valerie Mushinski do to get the gun lobby's stamp of approval?  Why does the National Firearms Association see these New Democrats as friends?

We already know what Jack Layton's going to do about this.

He's campaigning for gun lobby endorsed candidates.

Sadly, that's not a surprise either.

Jack Layton used to have a clear position on illegal handguns. In 2011, even crickets are hearing crickets.

In 2006, Jack Layton's NDP had a clear program on gun violence.

For example, on handguns, the NDP platform read:

In many urban areas, disputes are increasingly being settled by gunfire, as guns are often seen as a status symbol. This normalization of gun culture needs to be changed, and illegal guns – many of them imported from the U.S. or stolen from homes – must be taken off the street. Hand guns have no place in our cities.

In 2011, Jack Layton's NDP just doesn't stand for what it used to stand for.  The NDP won't fight to protect vulnerable Canadians.

The sad fact is that the NDP platform doesn't talk about illegal guns at all.

The NDP used to take a strong position on handgun crime.

Why all the crickets in this campaign?

Harper Tories fear seniors...

...it seems.

On guns, even Jack Layton no longer stands for what Jack Layton once stood for. Why?

Even before the NDP released its platform, we were resigned to the fact that Jack Layton and the NDP will refuse to stand up for vulnerable Canadians and commit his party to protect the life saving long gun registry. 

So what is the NDP plan to deal with gun crime and firearms violence?

It turns out that there isn't one.  Neither the word "gun" nor the word "firearm" appears in the NDP published 2011 platform document.

It wasn't always so.  Even while studiously avoiding mention of the life saving long gun registry, the 2008 NDP platform (excerpt below) had clear proposals to address gun crime:

3. Take on Gun Crime

Handguns have no place on the streets of our communities, except in the hands of law enforcement officials.

Building on New Democrats' work in Parliament to curb gun violence, which included mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed with a handgun, Jack Layton and his team of New Democrats will:

Enable cities, communities and provinces to choose to implement an 'absolute ban' on handguns by tightening existing restrictions on handgun possession.

Facilitate a Canada-US Summit of law makers and law enforcement personnel from all levels of government along with stakeholders to tackle the ongoing crisis of illegal handguns being smuggled into Canada.

Halt the illegal importation of handguns from the United States and target the sale of illegal weapons via the Internet.

So why, in 2011, is Jack Layton's NDP no longer committed in its platform to fighting cross-border handgun smuggling? 

That's something all sensible Canadians should agree on.

What a difference five years makes

Once upon a time, the Harper Tories didn't seem terribly concerned about the appropriateness of commenting on the contents of a leaked Auditor General report.

It appears, however, that John Baird thinks that leaked AG reports need to be much more closely parsed when they involve a $50 million slush fund operated by Harper Tory insiders and friends.

Bully for John Baird.

BC Harper Tory candidate promises free votes everywhere but the House of Commons, hopes nobody notices

Revelstoke Times Review
April 6, 2011

When asked, he said he would not always vote along the party line. "In the caucus, I would vote as my constituents want me to vote.

Threat level: Illegal machine guns

What kind of Canadian does the Harper Tory party see as a bigger threat?

a) A convicted machine gun maker

b) A university student with a picture of Michael Ignatieff

That's right.  The convicted machine gun maker is the VP of Tory MP Greg Rickford's Conservative Party riding association and the university student is ejected from a campaign rally.

We think that the Conservative Party has it backwards.

Illegal machine guns are a bigger threat than ideas.

Bruce Carson...

... isn't the only convicted criminal with access to Harper Tory Cabinet Ministers.

NDP MP rallies to Stephen Harper's side on long gun registry

If there was every any doubt about the NDP's refusal to protect vulnerable women and children from gun violence:

"If the bill differs by a word from the last bill, it could have big implications," said Hyer. "The simple answer is if a fair bill that's clear comes forward again to end the long-gun registry, I will again vote for it."

Hyer's Liberal opponent chooses not to empower the gun lobby:

Without compromises, Fricot said he would not support scrapping the gun registry.

"We're proposing to decriminalize it so Stephen Harper can sleep at night," he said. "We're proposing to eliminate fees and to deal with the bureaucratic red tape that so frustrates people who go hunting."

Yes OFAH, there is a Santa Claus

One of the registered lobbyists supporting the Harper Tories' promise to repeal the life saving long gun registry says that Canada should have gun laws more like those in Virginia.

We don't think that's a very good idea.

Posted without further comment: An Open Letter on Violence Against Women and the Long Gun Registry from YWCA Ccanada

Press Releases

AN OPEN LETTER ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THE LONG GUN REGISTRY FROM YWCA CANADA

2011/04/04

To:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
The Honourable Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Opposition
Mr. Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Quebecois
Mr. Jack Layton, Leader of the NDP
Ms. Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party

Violence against women is a $4 billion problem in this country. Every year, 100,000 women and children leave their homes fleeing violence and abuse. Almost 20,000 of those come through the doors of the 31 shelters operated by YWCAs across Canada looking for safety, for a roof over their heads, for care and support.

As the nation’s largest single provider of shelter to women and children fleeing violence, YWCA Canada knows the long gun registry is a public safety tool that makes women’s lives safer. Across the country, our shelters tell us the long gun registry is useful and needed. Our rural shelters tell us police consult the long gun registry every time they go to a domestic violence incident. These are not automatic checks, but deliberate and specific searches for the presence of firearms in the home, especially long guns.

Among service providers working in violence against women there is no rural-urban divide on the registry. YWCA Canada’s national network of shelters is urban and rural, and includes Sudbury, Niagara Region, Brandon, Prince Albert, Lethbridge, Peterborough, St. Thomas-Elgin, Saskatoon, Banff, Yellowknife and Iqaluit, where shot guns and rifles are part of the culture. In every province and territory, the shelter and transition house associations support the long gun registry.

Why? Because shot guns and rifles are the guns most commonly used in spousal homicides, and especially when women are the victims. Not handguns. Shot guns and rifles. In the last decade, 71% of spousal homicides committed with a firearm involved a shot gun or a rifle.

Women’s voices from rural Canada tell the tale. Lyda Fuller, Executive Director of YWCA Yellowknife, which operates shelters in Yellowknife and Fort Smith for women and children fleeing violence, reports that, “Women have told us that the guns used here in the North predominantly for hunting – that is, long guns – are also used to intimidate, subdue and control them. We hear this over and over again, in small communities without RCMP and in larger communities with RCMP. Women do not want these guns to be unregistered, but do not feel safe expressing this opinion other than in whispers to people who may be able to voice these ‘unpopular’ opinions and who may be heard.”

When YWCA Canada addressed the House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Lyda Fuller said, “Please make it clear that it is not city-born, city living folks who are asking for this registry to continue; it is the voices of northern women who fear for their lives and their mental health who are asking for protection. We see women who have experienced years of brutal intimidation. These women cannot safely express their need for protection themselves, and it is up to Canada to understand this and respond in an appropriate way.”

Dismantling the long gun registry would not serve the interests of women and children vulnerable to violence. It would put them and the police services who respond to domestic violence at greater risk.

As a nation, it’s time to listen.

Paulette Senior,

CEO YWCA Canada

My family includes progressive women

Last Friday, Jack Layton told a Sudbury audience that he didn't want to see the gun registry debate pit "family against family".

Today, Jack Layton's imaginary family will be confronted by a hard reality.

In the southwest Ontario riding of Welland, the Harper Tories will renew the sixteen year long Reform Party attack on the life saving long gun registry today.

Unlike the Liberals and the BQ, both of which are committed to first saving and then fixing the long gun registry, Jack Layton has consistently refused to take that important first step.

Jack Layton had every chance to do the right thing.

He could have listened to progressive women.

He should have listened to rural women.

He could even have listened to men whose values he used to share.

He didn't.

And now he wants to shut the debate down.

On Friday in Sudbury, Jack Layton had his Nancy Ruth moment.

Jack Layton says that even talking about the gun registry will hurt families.

He is so completely wrong.

Jack Layton's wilful blindness just makes vulnerable women and children more vulnerable.

Canada really does deserve better.

Jack Layton rejoins Harper Tory coalition against the long gun registry

At a town hall meeting staged in Sudbury on Friday, NDP Leader Jack Layton said that he told his caucus that any decision on a gun registry vote was "going to be your choice" - that it was OK to vote in coalition with the Harper Tories. 

In 2011, Jack Layton still won't fight for a long gun registry that helps reduce the toll of domestic violence.

He told his Sudbury audience that he doesn't want to see this issue pit "family against family".  

The irony would be funny if it wasn't so screamingly sad.

Otherwise they're law abiding

It's not comforting to think that someone or someones think that it's OK to deface a signs with cross hairs  painted over the candidate's picture.

Not comforting but sadly not surprising.

h/t: Talking Points

Gun lobby says NDP gaining credibility

Canada's friend of the NRA says that the NDP is "gaining credibility".

Must be reassuring to the NDP war room to see that someone thinks so.