Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Acts of Orwellian feminism
My elder daughter spent Thanksgiving weekend with her boyfriend visiting his parents at their farm northwest of Winnipeg. For a young woman who had never had any previous taste of life in rural Manitoba -- aside from a walk in the woods at Clear Lake one year -- it was eye-opening.
For her, at the time, the emphasis was first on taste. At home on Thanksgiving she gets turkey, mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and, if she's been good, which is not often, a piece of pie with, perhaps, some ice cream.
On the farm, however, she found a whole different kind of Thanksgiving dinner. There was, of course, a turkey, but her hosts were of Ukrainian descent -- she is Icelandic -- and there were many other dishes, from perogies to cabbage rolls to concoctions too exotic to describe that she wolfed down with such voracity that she began to alarm her boyfriend and his parents. Baba, however, thought a good appetite in such a young woman could only bode well for the future.
When she called me to tell me how her weekend was going, however, it wasn't the food. Rather it was about a more amazing experience. "Guess what, Dad?" she cried. "I got to fire a shotgun."
I don't think that she had ever seen a shotgun or a rifle before, but like most farm families, her boyfriend's farmhouse was full of them. She not only learned how to shoot one, she learned that a 12-gauge shotgun has a hell of kick -- it nearly knocked me on my bum, she said, and added, with some pride, that she had stayed on her feet.
Arnold Schwarzenegger may be able to shoot a 12-gauge with one hand, but I can't and I'm willing to bet that you can't either.
My daughter is beginning to understand guns, the power of them and the purpose of them and pleasure that can be had from them. In short, she is beginning to understand a little better what it means to be Canadian, to be part of a culture where long guns have been a natural adjunct to a normal way of life.
Or, at least, long guns were a natural adjunct to the Canadian way of life until the Liberals inflicted the long-gun firearms registry on the nation. Suddenly, the farmers, hunters and recreational shooters had been shifted from being good, law-abiding Canadians to being potential criminals as a knee-jerk political response to the distress that gripped urban Eastern Canada in the wake of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre of 14 young women in 1989, a tragedy that probably no piece of gun-control legislation, not even one as draconian as the Liberal long-gun registry, could have prevented.
The registry has been extraordinarily expensive to implement. It has been called the billion-dollar boondoggle because it cost at least that much to put in place -- some people call that an underestimate and that it should more accurately be called the two-billion-dollar boondoggle. It is also expensive to maintain, even under a Conservative government that wants no part of it, takes no interest in it and clearly wants out of it.
On Wednesday, the country was given an opportunity to opt out of this bit of Orwellian feminism when a private member's bill, put forward by Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, passed in the House of Commons by a surprisingly large majority as 20 Liberal and NDP MPs joined the Conservatives in supporting it. The Bloc Quebecois, unsurprisingly -- Quebec political parties have always had a more autocratic tinge to them than parties in the rest of Canada -- was unanimous in its support of the registry.
Giving the Canadian registry the kiss of death and the Canadian way of living the kiss of life is a long and unpredictable process -- there are still committee hearings and the thrice-accursed Senate that need to be surpassed -- but it is at least a hope.
Until that hope is realized, I am glad that my daughter has discovered the joys of Ukrainian cooking, but I am even happier that she has discovered the joys of what it means to be a free Canadian and the consequences and responsibilities that entails.
She showed me a picture of herself taken on her cellphone, holding up two dead geese that her boyfriend had shot. The grim expression on her face tells it all. She ain't going goose hunting again, but my guess is that she could be a killer at skeet.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 7, 2009 A19
- Rate this

-
-
We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high. If you thought it was well written, do the same. If it doesn’t meet your standards, mark it accordingly.
You can also register and/or login to the site and join the conversation by leaving a comment.
Rate it yourself by rolling over the stars and clicking when you reach your desired rating. We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high.
The comment period for this story has ended.
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to The View from the West
-
Working in Winnipeg
A close-up look at the jobs people do and why they do them
-
Helping Haiti
Where to make donations
-
Open Secrets
Red River students mine government data banks
-
Ski with WFP
Register here to ski Asessippi with the Winnipeg Free Press
-
Random Acts of Kindness
Your encounters with goodness
Poll
Most Popular
- Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- Checking out sex show all part of journalist's job
- Should have been listening, Tiger
- Prominence proving costly to Hall: friend
- Body found in Delta airplane wheel well after arriving in Tokyo from New York
- No support for Winnipeg's 'Homeless Hero' in days before attack: stepdaughter
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Larger garbage carts may become available
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Storm warning issued
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- City streets very slippery; several vehicles involved in crashes
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Police apologize for not looking into woman's complaint against gynecologist
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- Extended family pulls together
- Two dead after crash on Bishop Grandin
- Water pressure drop caused by power outage: city
- Avoid Perimeter: RCMP
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Winter storm warnings issued for Winnipeg, southern Manitoba
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Cheap Vancouver rentals, if tiny's OK
- Take one downtown, fill it with people
- Larger garbage carts may become available
- No support for Winnipeg's 'Homeless Hero' in days before attack: stepdaughter
- Prominence proving costly to Hall: friend
- Bad cocaine results in grave illness, hospitalization
- Trappers suing for $64M
- More police cars for suburbs: committee
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- Checking out sex show all part of journalist's job
- Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Sick days spike during blizzard
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Brutality not clear on tape: experts
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Zoning memorandums to cost sellers up to $180
- Shielding buyers, or 'cash grab'?
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- Girl not a bully, shouldn't have been suspended, says mom
- Arrest tape kills auto-theft case
- Don't dock students for missing deadlines: NDP
- Two dead after crash on Bishop Grandin
- Alleged mobsters seek to stay
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- RCMP investigating after video shows police beating suspect
- U.S. fighter slams Canada's 'Third World' health system
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- Steamy weekend
- Soft drinks hike pancreatic cancer risk: study
- Iran playing its hand
- Friendly credit union to open first city branch
- Checking out sex show all part of journalist's job
- Real-estate association's rules challenged by federal competition watchdog
- Jobs figures a bit too bright?
- First female boss for Destination Winnipeg
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Manitoba Merv predicts an early spring
- Zoning memorandums to cost sellers up to $180
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- A super-lab to fight superbugs
- Hutterite biography to debut despite legal chill
- Rude rowdies ruin Earle concert
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- 'Tough guys' wanted as film extras
- Nylons still smooth as silk
- Two dead after crash on Bishop Grandin
- Bath & Body Works coming to St. Vital
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- Winnipeg desserts are a piece of cake
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- VIDEO: A winter wonderland?
PREVIOUS

1 Comments
Posted by:
November 8, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Tom. You've reached a new low. Who would have thought it was possible?