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Vote on gun registry a political minefield

Tories, Liberals, NDP risk losing some support

Posted: 09/7/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

James Bezan, aboard Woody, makes his point.

OTTAWA -- In three weeks, a private member's bill to can the long-gun registry will come up for a do-or-die vote and the factions on either side have been revving their engines hard.

Every party stands to lose in this debate, no matter the outcome. The Conservatives could lose support in Quebec, the Liberals in rural Canada, and the NDP in both rural and urban Canada as their caucus is divided on how to vote on the bill.

Until late last week, the numbers seemed to be lining up in the Conservatives' favour.

But the Conservatives may have tripped themselves up last week with a commentary from Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz published in the online daily The Mark.

In it, Breitkreuz accuses the police who back the gun registry,-- including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, of wanting the gun registry because they don't want Canadians to own guns.

"To that end, they need a database that will help them locate and seize those firearms as soon as a licence or registration expires," Breitkreuz wrote.

Enter, stage left, some very upset NDP MPs.

Getting rid of the gun registry because they don't think it improves safety and only targets responsible gun owners is a legitimate argument, they said. Getting rid of it over some right-wing conspiracy theory that the cops want to barge into our homes and make off with our hunting weapons is a whole other ball game.

So much so that there are some NDP MPs who may simply avoid the vote altogether. They won't vote for the registry, but they won't vote with the Conservatives either.

Ontario MP Charlie Angus, one of the dozen NDP MPs who initially backed the bill, is going as far as to switch his vote to the other side. In an email to Breitkreuz responding to the column Breitkreuz had forwarded to Angus, the NDP MP tells Breitkreuz to take a hike.

"The Harper Conservatives, on the other hand, would rather try and just stir up rural Canadians with all manner of wild and crazy conspiracy theories about our local police forces," Angus wrote. "And just for the sake of a quick fundraising buck and some negative partisan advertising. Thanks for the advice, but no thanks."

-- -- --

Manitoba Conservative MP James Bezan also had tongues a-wagging last week over the gun registry. He posted a video -- then shortly thereafter removed it -- of himself on his horse Woody, laying out the reasons the gun registry should go. It's at least the second time Woody has made an appearance on Bezan's YouTube channel postings. The giggle-inducing video included several odd clips of Bezan mugging for the camera with cheesy lines, including saying that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff would whip the vote, but "I wouldn't even whip my horse Woody."

When Bezan said Ignatieff should be "reined in," he leaned down and picked up Woody's reins.

The video disappeared shortly after it was posted, although someone who copied it later reposted it. Bezan's office did not respond Friday when asked why the video had been taken down.

An edited version is on the Star Wipes blog on our www.winnipegfreepress.com website.

-- -- --

The comings and goings of the Ice Cream Express -- sorry, the Liberal Express -- have been documented all summer by a team of young Liberals in a blog on the Liberal website. Perhaps Ignatieff is tired of being asked about his diet, but in a clip posted Aug. 28, he explained that even choosing his ice-cream flavour is a matter for widespread consultation.

"It's complicated," he said, scooping up some of his latest pick.

"We have to have a meeting. We get the young Liberals together. We get the senior staff together. We go through the list of possible varieties we could have. Some go for raspberry. Some go for wild cherry. Then it's up to the leader. It's a heavy decision. I have today chosen (chocolate hazelnut). Very good."

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 7, 2010 A8

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