scooter
03-25-2009, 02:59 PM
SASKATOON STAR PHOENIX - MARCH 24, 2009 Targeting gun registry kills majority hopes BY Les MacPherson The StarPhoenix
http://www2.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/third_page/story.html?id=c2
5cc6bf-951f-40ab-b1ba-6c601b798b55
When the prime minister talks about the gun registry, as he did during the weekend at a fish and game banquet in Toronto, he's really talking about Quebec. In both cases, he is saying, "Who needs you?"
Stephen Harper doesn't need to revisit the divisive and hitherto dormant question of gun control, at least not right now. He's got trouble enough as it is, what with the recession and the bailouts and the war in Afghanistan and steering his minority government through the political shoals and so on.
Even if he could close down the useless, expensive long-gun registry, which he can't so long as it is supported by the more numerous opposition, there are no votes in it for him. Those who feel likewise already support him, often actively. They are patiently waiting and hoping the Conservatives can eventually win a majority and dump the hated registry.
Conventional wisdom has always been that Harper can only get that majority by winning more seats in Quebec. Toward that end he has invested a great deal of his political capital. He might as well have dumped it into the St.
Lawrence River. The Conservatives won only 10 of 75 seats in Quebec last October and their support in the province has only waned since then.
By opening a new offensive on the gun registry, Harper is all but writing off Quebec, where the registry is most popular. Polls show that 76 per cent of Quebecers support the $2-billion crackdown on farmers and duck hunters.
That's why Quebec Premier Jean Charest has vowed to retain a long-gun registry in that province no matter what Ottawa does. Charest's laughable devotion to the registry might be diminished, however, if Quebec had to pay for it.
What elevates this above the purely hypothetical is a private member's bill coming before the Commons for debate next month. Sponsored by Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative MP for Yorkton-Melville, Bill C-301 would scrap the registry that he has tirelessly opposed since its imposition.
Private member's bills almost never become law. Usually they go from the printer to the dustbin without serious consideration. What's different with this bill is the support it has at the highest level. For a prime minister to be actively campaigning for a private member's bill is not how the flow chart in Ottawa normally works.
Harper is urging the anti-registry crowd to pressure opposition party leaders for a free vote on the Breitkreuz bill. With support from just a few opposition MPs representing rural constituencies, the bill at least has a chance. If all 143 Conservatives vote in favour -- not necessarily a sure thing if the vote really is free -- they need 12 opposition members on side to win the day. An intense lobbying effort to line them up reportedly is underway.
Proponents of the registry are predictably indignant. They accuse Harper of disguising as a private member's bill what really is a government bill just so it will qualify for the free vote. They're right, too, but so what? Who can argue against a free vote?
Not Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton. To do so would win them nothing and cost them support in the West where the registry is most unpopular. They understand the registry is practically useless except as a symbol for distinguishing bleeding-heart lefties from gun-toting rednecks. With a free vote, they can avoid digging themselves in on either side. There might be awkward questions, however, about Ignatieff allowing a free vote on a bill to dismantle what was Liberal legislation. He will answer them smoothly, I'm sure.
The Bloc Quebecois, of course, is already dug in. Bloc MPs don't need to be whipped to vote against the Breitkreuz bill. Quebecers overwhelmingly support the registry. What I can't recall is the last time a sitting prime minister as much as invited them to lump it. That Harper would do so suggests he has finally given up on Quebec. No longer will the tail automatically wag the dog.
So ends the dream of another would-be national party. You have to wonder if such a thing is possible.
lmacpherson@sp.canwest.com
http://www2.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/third_page/story.html?id=c2
5cc6bf-951f-40ab-b1ba-6c601b798b55
When the prime minister talks about the gun registry, as he did during the weekend at a fish and game banquet in Toronto, he's really talking about Quebec. In both cases, he is saying, "Who needs you?"
Stephen Harper doesn't need to revisit the divisive and hitherto dormant question of gun control, at least not right now. He's got trouble enough as it is, what with the recession and the bailouts and the war in Afghanistan and steering his minority government through the political shoals and so on.
Even if he could close down the useless, expensive long-gun registry, which he can't so long as it is supported by the more numerous opposition, there are no votes in it for him. Those who feel likewise already support him, often actively. They are patiently waiting and hoping the Conservatives can eventually win a majority and dump the hated registry.
Conventional wisdom has always been that Harper can only get that majority by winning more seats in Quebec. Toward that end he has invested a great deal of his political capital. He might as well have dumped it into the St.
Lawrence River. The Conservatives won only 10 of 75 seats in Quebec last October and their support in the province has only waned since then.
By opening a new offensive on the gun registry, Harper is all but writing off Quebec, where the registry is most popular. Polls show that 76 per cent of Quebecers support the $2-billion crackdown on farmers and duck hunters.
That's why Quebec Premier Jean Charest has vowed to retain a long-gun registry in that province no matter what Ottawa does. Charest's laughable devotion to the registry might be diminished, however, if Quebec had to pay for it.
What elevates this above the purely hypothetical is a private member's bill coming before the Commons for debate next month. Sponsored by Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative MP for Yorkton-Melville, Bill C-301 would scrap the registry that he has tirelessly opposed since its imposition.
Private member's bills almost never become law. Usually they go from the printer to the dustbin without serious consideration. What's different with this bill is the support it has at the highest level. For a prime minister to be actively campaigning for a private member's bill is not how the flow chart in Ottawa normally works.
Harper is urging the anti-registry crowd to pressure opposition party leaders for a free vote on the Breitkreuz bill. With support from just a few opposition MPs representing rural constituencies, the bill at least has a chance. If all 143 Conservatives vote in favour -- not necessarily a sure thing if the vote really is free -- they need 12 opposition members on side to win the day. An intense lobbying effort to line them up reportedly is underway.
Proponents of the registry are predictably indignant. They accuse Harper of disguising as a private member's bill what really is a government bill just so it will qualify for the free vote. They're right, too, but so what? Who can argue against a free vote?
Not Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton. To do so would win them nothing and cost them support in the West where the registry is most unpopular. They understand the registry is practically useless except as a symbol for distinguishing bleeding-heart lefties from gun-toting rednecks. With a free vote, they can avoid digging themselves in on either side. There might be awkward questions, however, about Ignatieff allowing a free vote on a bill to dismantle what was Liberal legislation. He will answer them smoothly, I'm sure.
The Bloc Quebecois, of course, is already dug in. Bloc MPs don't need to be whipped to vote against the Breitkreuz bill. Quebecers overwhelmingly support the registry. What I can't recall is the last time a sitting prime minister as much as invited them to lump it. That Harper would do so suggests he has finally given up on Quebec. No longer will the tail automatically wag the dog.
So ends the dream of another would-be national party. You have to wonder if such a thing is possible.
lmacpherson@sp.canwest.com