An open letter to Larry Bagnell:
Regarding your dilemma of being ordered to ignore the wishes of your constituents and vote against MP Candice Hoeppner’s private members bill to abolish the long-gun registry, I suspect you are hoping to use Michael Ignatieff’s “promise of amendments” to justify your vote.
Both proposed amendments ring completely hollow, nothing more than political window dressing.
A promise to waive the fees of registration and renewal totally misses the point of the massive opposition to the registry.
Has your leader not been paying attention? It is not the fees rational-thinking Canadians oppose, it’s the colossal waste of taxpayers’ money administering the useless program that is so offensive!
And by waiving fees, that obscene waste of public money will only increase, won’t it?
And, incidentally, the so-called police chiefs’“support” of the long-gun registry is pure politics! There is no evidence of the claimed 10,000 references to the registry each day being of any practical value at the “boots-on-the-ground” level.
Second, what is the message implied in Ignatieff’s offer to let first offences go unpunished? Is he saying a gun owner need not register his long guns until he is caught and given a warning, then he must comply? If that isn’t a typical wishy-washy Liberal solution, I don’t know what is.
I have the answer for you, Bagnell. Why don’t you take this opportunity to represent your constituents, strike a blow for democracy and cross the floor. That would enable you to properly convey the sentiments of your Yukon constituency and, at the same time, be a leader against the undemocratic practice of political party interests taking precedence over those of the citizens.
R.B. Cameron
Whitehorse