Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

The paramount importance of public sentiment

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, September 17, 2010 5:38pm - 0 Comments

The Prime Minister vows to continue not resting until the long gun registry is abolished.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the federal long-gun registry will someday be scrapped, regardless of what happens to a Tory backbencher’s bill on the issue when Parliament returns next week … ”Opposition to it has not diminished; it has only increased,” he said.

He again denounced the registry, which was introduced by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien in 1995, as a “large-scale operation that targeted the wrong people” — including hunters, farmers, outdoorsmen and women, as well as police officers “who understand the reality of these communities.” ”These people will never accept this registry because they know it is ineffective and wasteful, and the party I lead will not rest until the day it is abolished,” Harper said to applause.

By Harris-Decima’s findings, public opinion has indeed been shifting, but in the exact opposite direction.

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  • Mike T.

    I WON'T FILL OUT A PIECE OF PAPER AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!!!

    • Patchouli

      You know, don't bother, and likely only you will ever know!

    • auntie_em_m

      I assumed you were being humourous/sarcastic …I'm the ass who thumbed you up.

      • Richard_S_Argent

        From what I know of Mike T. I'm fairly certain that he was, in fact, being sarcastic

        cheers!

    • sea_n_mountains

      why does Stephen Harper hate Max Weber so much?

  • http://twitter.com/wrikent3500 @wrikent3500

    What part of it`s over doesn`t Harper get?

  • Orson Bean

    I found it interesting that in the article about the Decima survey that Wherry linked to, it claims that the Liberals are planning to use this issue to target urban ridings currently held by the NDP. This is consistent with the observation some commentators have been making that even if the CPC loses the vote, the CPC "wins" because it benefits from Liberals and Dippers scrapping amongst themselves. In the "differentiation" school of political strategy, and in the context of our first-past-the-post system, it makes sense: the CPC gets to "own" the anti-registry demographic.

    • Emily

      Liberals and Dippers have always scrapped. They are two quite different parties in spite of what Cons say.

    • Jan

      They also own the anti-same sex marriage, the anti-choice for women, and the anti-global warming demographic.

  • Reverend_Blair

    I'd hate to be chair in Stephen Harper's vicinity these days.

    Hey, when he beats up the furniture, do we have to pay to replace it?

  • danby

    the party I lead will not rest until the day it is abolished

    This is a line in the sand that can make or break Stephen Harper.
    That, can be very useful information to those looking to unseat the PM – and a branding iron can be very effective indeed.

  • rad pather

    What 'mechanisms does he have to scrap this registry in the future, one is to be immortal?

    • Reader

      Oh, cr*p. I thought you wrote "immoral."

      Yes, it's immoral to preach the "good word" and sow the seeds of dishonesty and discord. Beware preachers of the "one truth" — harbingers of "the great lie" they are.

    • http://scottdiatribe.canflag.com/ Scott_Tribe

      That's easy – he's implying he needs a majority government to do the trick.

  • Reader

    Let's say Harper dreams he's a gunfighter. Liberty Valence comes to mind.

    Here's a quote from the script (courtesy IMDB) :

    When Stoddards ethical ire rises and he moves to tell the world the truth, Doniphon convinces him to keep the truth a secret and take a leading role to change the ways of the old West. Stoddard goes on to a stellar career making sweeping changes in the way the land is governed and Doniphon fades away.

    • Reader

      Reform? My ass.

  • anon

    Doesn't he have better things to do?

  • chet

    Remember the good ol days when a scandal meant stealing tens of millions of taxpayers' dollars and funnelling it to the political party in power via money laundering and brown bags full of cash?

    The days when the Liberals were in power?

    Now we're left with academic discussions of the distinction between long form vs. short form census, whether Harper ate a communion wafter, and most recently, the earth shattering decision as to whether the caucus should be whipped on the long gun vote.

    Days upon days of posts on each subject. So much ginning. So much hard work to find (create) the scandal.

    We need the Liberals back.

    ….memories, like the corner of my mind, misty water colored memories….

    • brooster

      Nice channel change…how about sticking to the topic in the posting? Short attention span?

      • Greg

        Don't you worry Chet, the AG is reporting on the <stike>Conservative Slush Fund stimulus spending, later this fall. You may get your proper "scandal" sooner than you think.

    • ahm

      Eeeeevrybody's talkin' 'bout the good ol' days. We'll let's talk about the good ol' days. Can it be that it was all so simple then?

      • ahm

        Maybe nobody bothers to look at day-old comments on last-week posts, so I'm going to congratulate myself here: Wu-Tang Clan lyrics (and a sample!) appropriately used to respond to a partisan political comment. Goodness, I was full of wit and pep with that one.

  • BGLong

    Truly inspiring rhetoric worthy of Churchill … he will fight on The Beaches…

    • auntie_em_m

      THAT was humourous/sarcastic , right?

      • BGLong

        Sad but true …. (:

    • Sigh

      we shall fight on The Beaches,
      we shall fight on the Danforth,
      we shall fight in Rosedale and on Bay Street,
      we shall fight in Richmond Hill;
      we shall never surrender

  • Crit_Reasoning

    It's truly amazing that the Government and the Opposition are wasting so much time arguing about an issue that is almost entirely symbolic. The gun registry debate is pure politics, with very little substance behind it on either side.

    Dan Gardner has an excellent piece about how the gun registry really doesn't matter, in spite of people's emotional responses to it: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Emotions+…

    • jkg

      You read Gardner as well? I figured, given your personality and independent mind, Crit. :)

      The concept of correlations between near mutually exclusive issues being culturally determined is an interesting one, since it would necessitate a certain tolerance of cognitive dissonance and rationalization. However, I think one thing left addressed by Gardner's underlying premises is that certain correlations could be simply incidental due to evaluating each issue on a case by case basis. That is not to diminish the role of external cultural influence, but if one is to confine themselves principally to positions based on empirical evidence (for the sake of argument), you may end up with the an issue correlation that could be thought to be culturally filtered or prescribed.

      • jkg

        *unaddressed by Gardner's

      • Crit_Reasoning

        Thanks for your thoughtful comment, jkg. The Dan Kahan study cited by Gardner suggests that
        on both sides of controversial issues there is widespread tolerance of cognitive dissonance and rationalization:

        Kahan clinched the point by asking people to imagine that researchers produced powerful new evidence that proved their view of guns is wrong. Would you change your view? The overwhelming majority said, no, they would not.

        This jives with my own observations. Having followed numerous online discussions about contentious issues, I've noticed that many people on either side of the issue being discussed seem to cling tenaciously to preexisting views and positions, and rarely allow themselves to be swayed by new evidence that is presented.

        As you point out, it's certainly possible that with some issue correlations, those who subscribe to one set of seemingly unrelated positions base their views on rational, case-by-case evaluation of empirical evidence, while those who subscribe to the opposing set base their views primarily on non-empirical factors (cultural influences, religious beliefs, etc.).

  • Adam

    PSAC is claiming that, should the long gun registry–not the restricted/prohibited registries, or the licensing bureaucracy–be scrapped, 240 jobs would be lost. Now, the labour costs of this alone add up to FAR MORE than the $4M figure given by the RCMP in their report, which does not include IT costs (e.g., for CACP financial backer CGI). Something is very fishy about the RCMP's accounting procedures.

  • Holly Stick

    Harper has probably learned a lot from watching Alberta politics:
    http://www.albertadiary.ca/2010/09/alberta-health…

  • Out There

    ”Opposition to it has not diminished; it has only increased."

    The frightening part is that he probably really believes this. That's the problem with spending all of your time in a bubble of syncophants and yes-men.People only tell him what he wants to hear so as not to provoke his wrath.

    There are lots of Canadians opposed to the gun registry, but there are even more Canadians in favour of it.

  • paulrevere101

    http://www.truthit.net/trained_to_rule.html
    Trained To Rule The CFR
    'The main purpose of the Council on Foreign Relations is promoting the disarmament of U.S. sovereignty and national independence and submergence into an all powerful, One World Government.'
    - Admiral Chester Ward, former CFR member and Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy
    The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) conspiracy has infiltrated all elements of American society. It's agents are in the school system, media, and government. The CFR began in 1921 and has been working ever since at destroying the minds, morals, and liberty of the American people.

  • paulrevere101

    In order to rise to the office of President today, a person must be picked by the elite banking cabal. He (or she) must be approved and trained by a CFR 'adviser'. Once proven that this person will do the bidding of the elite, that person is propped up as the next savior (president). This person is nothing but a puppet, not a 'leader of the People'.
    Who the heck was Obama before being taken under the wing of the CFR? How do you think Bill Clinton became president?
    'The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is the American Branch of a society which originated in England… (and)…believes national boundaries should be obliterated and One-World rule established.'
    - Carroll Quigley, member of Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), mentor to Bill Clinton
    TRAINED TO RULE BILDERBERG
    Another important entity that reigns over those who are trained to rule by the CFR is the Bilderberg Society.
    “The Obama Deception”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
    Pass this info on to your friends!

  • Dot

    "Si j'ai bien compris, vous êtes en train de me dire: à la prochaine fois."

  • Thwim

    Well then.. I sincerely hope the party you lead is abolished soon, sir. Looks to me like you need your rest.

  • Richard_S_Argent

    That's curious, he says he won't rest until the day the registry is abolished, yet he refuses to put the full weight of his government behind that abolishment.

    Mr. Harper makes it very difficult not to view him cynically.

  • Mike T.

    Too bad the journalist who asked him about omnibus bills has probably been taken out behind the woodshed and his picture send to every MP in the party.

  • Dave

    Never shoot a cash cow.

  • Stewart_Smith

    I hope someone gets a chance to ask Harper why he has changed his mind about the value of the registry, preferably in one of those quiet one on one settings rather than in a scrum. He used to such a solid supporter, it would be good to hear his reasons.

  • Graeme

    A quote or citation to support what you're saying please?

  • James Connors
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  • Graeme

    Wow. That really does make no sense at all.

  • lenny

    From James link:
    "Sara MacIntyre, Harper’s press secretary, said Monday that the prime minister was merely acting as any responsible MP should by casting his vote based on what his constituents wanted.

    “That’s consistent with what we’re calling on the opposition to do,” she said. “

    Of course, that's not what they're calling on Conservative MPs to do.

  • James Connors

    If anyone, anywhere can point to anything Harper has done in government that makes sense – beyond Harper's personal political ambition and perspective – I'd be interested to see the list.

  • chet

    Harper is taking a position that is being portrayed around here as so objectionable as to be scandalous.

    In other shocking news, the Sun rose in the east today.

  • http://scottdiatribe.canflag.com/ Scott_Tribe

    If he's so opposed to it, let him put forth an actual government bill scrapping it, rather then try to hide behind a too clever by half private members bill. Heck, let him declare it a matter of confidence if it gets voted down (it hasn't stopped him before on other matters that arent money or Budget bills) if he is so opposed to it in principle.

  • LivbloginJunkie

    A government bill to scrap the gun registry?

    You mean like this one: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publicat…

    Or this one: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publicat…

  • Dave

    Here you go:

    The end.

  • http://scottdiatribe.canflag.com/ Scott_Tribe

    I've yet to see that "government bill" come forth and get voted on…

  • James Connors

    Rosebud.

  • danby

    What if the Liberals would offer a minor, but reasonable amendment to the NDP proposal. It's accepted. They could announce that good policy and compromise begets cooperation, and that this is what Canadians want: Good, sensible, cooperative government.
    Serve Mr Harper his "coalition" on a silver platter, and his desire to smash it out of the park will impel him to overplay his hand.
    The Liberals and NDP would message that there is no formal coalition, but that the wedges of a divided country will never accomplish what Canadians working together could. Build bridges, not tall, steel fences. Call for an end to confrontational politics. Minority governments around the world are finding ways to work together, so can Canada.
    Mr Harper will see the opportunity, and propose, no demand a majority to end this…. this…….coalition of socialists, elitists and …….separatists He won't be able to stop himself. Thread the needle and stitch a cloak fit for a rule making king

    Let level headed Canadians decide which is the voice of reason.

    Waves roll over the beach, but opportunities, like treasure, sometimes wash ashore.

  • dougrogers

    Interesting strategy

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