Re There’s More at Stake than Long Guns, (the News, October 8):
I think Kirk Cameron is missing the point É and by a far margin. Larry Bagnell has no defence. He promised voters that he would continue to do everything possible to get rid of the registry. It’s that simple. He made a promise to the voters, us, his constituents.
Which he then promptly broke when it suited him to do so. Bagnell didn’t “fundamentally believe it was in the long-term interest of Yukoners.”
He believed, and told us it was because he would have been kicked out of the Liberal party had he not toed the party line. That’s it right there. He chose to listen to an appointed dictator in Ottawa over his constituents who voted him into office.
As for how hard he works, it’s nice to hear that you receive responses within 30 minutes. Because that certainly isn’t the same for the rest of us. I’m still waiting for the last couple of e-mails I’ve sent him. It’s going on 90 days now, so I won’t hold my breath.
Bagnell has one job to do, and that’s to represent the Yukon, and Yukoners in Ottawa. And in this case, he failed miserably. He abandoned, us and instead chose to side with his boss. Maybe some people find that acceptable. However I find it despicable. I voted for Larry Bagnell to represent me, I didn’t vote for Michael Ignatieff. In fact, no one outside his riding voted for Igantieff, and yet he’s telling our MP how he will represent us? When the next election is eventually held, should Larry run, he’ll be running on his credibility, not Ignatieff’s.
Bagnell has voted against the registry at every chance. Last month he was given a chance to stand up and represent us on something we feel strongly about É and he didn’t. What happens the next time something Bagnell believes in, and has always been vocal about, clashes with what his boss in Ottawa thinks? Will he stop representing Yukoners then? And the next time? And the time after that? He broke his word to us, and for a politician his word and integrity is all he has. Larry has now shown Yukoners he has no integrity, and that his word can’t be trusted.
What Kirk Cameron is suggesting in his letter of October 8, is that we the voters, should not hold Larry Bagnell accountable for how he failed to represent us. That’s almost as bad as how Bagnell failed to represent us. Because he certainly did fail to represent us.
Jordan Rivest
Whitehorse