‘If we can find a way to move forward’

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 1:33 PM - 0 Comments

In the wake of Jack Layton’s announcement yesterday, Charlie Angus, one of the dozen NDP MPs whose votes will decide the fate of the gun registry, doesn’t seem entirely committed to voting for C-391 on third reading. But Jim Maloway, who has repeated his intention to vote for C-391, is unmoved.

Regardless, said Maloway, he still plans to vote with Hoeppner. ”Nothing there changes my view on the long-gun registry,” said Maloway.

He also said Layton’s proposal is too little too late. ”This bill just went through committee last spring,” said Maloway. “Where were all these amendments at the committee?”

A wasteful, ineffective, important tool to promote public safety

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 9:11 AM - 0 Comments

The RCMP’s evaluation of the Canadian Firearms Program—which you didn’t need to see because the Public Safety Minister’s office had already told you what you needed to know—is officially released today. Canadian Press had an early look and the CBC posted a leaked copy. The following from the report’s findings.

Firearms registration is a critical component of the entire firearms program. The program, as a whole, is an important tool for law enforcement. It also serves to increase the accountability of firearms owners for their firearms, by linking registered firearms to licensees. An acceptable level of compliance toward long gun registration is essential for improving the Registry’s utility as a tool to promote public safety … Canadians are receiving value for their tax dollars from the CFP. Overall, the Canadian Firearms Program is cost-effective in reducing firearms-related crime and promoting public safety through universal licensing of firearms owners and registration of firearms in Canada.

Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, sponsor of Bill C-391, was quick with a response, proclaiming in an release last evening that “the RCMP report supports what I’ve been saying all along – that the long-gun registry is wasteful and ineffective.”

The olive branch

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 30, 2010 at 12:14 PM - 0 Comments

Four months ago, in announcing he would whip a future vote on C-391, Michael Ignatieff set out a few proposed changes to the gun registry conceivably intended to appease those Liberals who had previously voted to abolish the registry.

Today, in announcing he would not whip a future vote on C-391, Jack Layton set out a few proposed changes to the gun registry conceivably intended to appease those New Democrats who had previously voted to abolish the registry.

Everybody already knows

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 27, 2010 at 10:21 AM - 0 Comments

Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner reacts to an internal RCMP audit that found favourably of the firearms registry.

“I don’t believe any of these reports make any difference whatsoever,” said Ms. Hoeppner. “It’s been years of mismanagement and waste and there’s not going to be a report that changes our minds.”

Swing votes

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 4:06 PM - 0 Comments

NDP MPs John Rafferty and Bruce Hyer talk to the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal about the vote on Bill C-391. Neither are quoted explicitly stating an intention, but Hyer at least seems to be talking like someone who wants to vote yes.

An important, cost-effective outrage

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 1:45 PM - 0 Comments

CBC gets hold of the RCMP report the government doesn’t think you need to see.

One section of the report states: “The program, as a whole, is an important tool for law enforcement. It also serves to increase accountability of firearm owners for their firearms.”

The report found that the cost of the program is in the range of $1.1 million to $3.6 million per year and that the Canadian Firearms Program is operating efficiently. “Overall the program is cost effective in reducing firearms related crime and promoting public safety through universal licensing of firearm owners and registration of firearms,” the report states.

Mixed and inconclusive

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 5:08 PM - 0 Comments

So it seems the survey to which Conservative MP Candice Hoepnner referred this week was drawn from responses to a posting on the online forum of Blue Line magazine. And now the editor of Blue Line is quite displeased on a number of fronts (or possibly the caps lock option on his keyboard is stuck).

MEDIA AND POLITICAL HYPE IS BACKWARDS.  THE REGISTRY IS ABOUT RESPONSIBLE FIREARMS OWNERSHIP NOT POLICE USE. POLICE ARE CALLED UPON TO REFER TO IT FOR MANY REASONS BUT JUST LIKE RESPONSIBLE CAR OWNERS, RESPONSIBLE BOAT OWNERS AND RESPONSIBLE HOME OWNERS HAVE A REGISTRY, FIREARMS SHOULD BE NO DIFFERENT.POLICE INTEREST IS REALLY ONLY WHEN THEY ARE STOLEN, STORED, REGISTERED OR USED IMPROPERLY … THE MONEY HAS BEEN BLOWN (RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY) AND IF SO WE MUST SALVAGE WHAT WE CAN. IF WE NEED TO THROW OUT PORTIONS THEN DO SO. BUT NOT THE WHOLE THING. THAT WOULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT.

149 to 148

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 1:03 PM - 0 Comments

Postmedia finds three NDP MPs who are committed to voting in favour of C-391: Peter Stoffer, Dennis Bevington and Jim Maloway. Carol Hughes is undecided. A spokesperson for John Rafferty, the NDP MP for Thunder Bay, says Mr. Rafferty will only comment on his stance to the local media. (The hilarity of this position aside—the invention of the telegraph in 1794 making it relatively easy to transmit news from one city to another—it should at least compel someone from the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal to give Mr. Rafferty a call sometime today.)

Nonetheless, while we wait to see to which media outlet Mr. Rafferty will reveal his decision, nine NDP votes now remain in play, or at least unaccounted for. Those belong to Malcolm Allen, Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton, Nathan Cullen, Claude Gravelle, Hughes, Bruce Hyer, Rafferty and Glenn Thibeault.

The potential math of this vote has previously been laid out. But for the purposes of keeping score—including the votes of Messrs Mark and Bevilacqua for now, with only Judy Wasylcia-Leis’ seat officially vacant—the known tally at this moment is 149 votes in favour, 148 votes against.

Information as the enemy

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 11:27 AM - 0 Comments

While an evaluation report of the gun registry languishes in some sort of bureaucratic purgatory, the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews explains why you don’t need to see it anyway.

“Canadians don’t need another report to know that the long-gun registry is very efficient at harassing law-abiding farmers and outdoors enthusiasts, while wasting billions of taxpayer dollars,” a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told the Star Tuesday.

This all may sound familiar. Last November, around the time of the last vote on the long-gun registry, another report was delayed and the office of the Public Safety Minister used nearly the exact same words to explain why. The dispute inspired one of the greatest displays of ministerial obfuscation in modern history from Mr. Toews’ predecessor.

A day later it was reported that the report had been submitted four weeks previous. Last May, evidence turned up that the report had been submitted seven weeks previous.

Gun registry math (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 23, 2010 at 2:36 PM - 0 Comments

While police chiefs prepare to campaign for the preservation of the long-gun registry, Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, sponsor of C-391, issues a press release saluting the “vast majority” of police officers who oppose the registry. To wit.

“This survey proves what I have been saying all along – that the CACP and the CPA do not, as they claim, speak for Canadian police officers on this issue,” said Candice Hoeppner.  “As I have met with police chiefs and front-line officers this past year, I have repeatedly said that police support for maintaining the long-gun registry is far from unanimous; in fact, it seems that the opposite is true – police support to end the registry is overwhelming!…

“Canadian Police Association President Charles Momy appeared at committee this spring and referred to a survey demonstrating police support for the long-gun registry – a survey that he admitted involved just 400 officers,” Hoeppner commented.  “This new survey involved over 2600 officers and strongly contradicts Mr. Momy’s position.  It seems obvious that a survey sample of 2600 is far more reliable than a survey of 400.”

The survey to which Ms. Hoeppner assigns her finding of reliability was conducted by an Edmonton police officer. From the release announcing his findings, he seems to have placed a notice of some kind seeking replies in a police magazine. In the fourth paragraph of that release, Constable Randy Kuntz is said to be “first to admit the survey is not scientific.”

When Charles Momy, president of the Canadian Police Association, appeared before the public safety committee in May he referenced a survey conducted by the RCMP. Of the 408 respondents, 74% said the registry had aided their work. This would seem to be that survey.

Gun registry math

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 23, 2010 at 12:32 PM - 0 Comments

When Bill c-391, an act to repeal the long-gun registry, came to a vote on second reading last November, it was passed by a count of 164-137. Those 164 votes in favour included 143 Conservatives, 12 New Democrats, eight Liberals and one independent.

C-391 is now due to return to the House for a final vote when the House returns this fall and the vote seems set to be very close.

How close? Well, let’s see. Continue…

Say no more

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 20, 2010 at 1:52 PM - 0 Comments

RCMP commissioner won’t take a position on the gun registry and won’t comment on the removal of Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak (and, contrary to previous reports, he has a lot to say about the removal of Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak), but he will say the following.

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott says facts demonstrate that the federal long-gun registry has been “useful,” but he doesn’t believe it’s appropriate for the Mounties to take a position on the registry’s future…

“We will stick to facts and not to advocacy, and we will leave it to others to advocate a positions if they believe that’s appropriate for them.”

Meanwhile, the former ombudsman for victims of crime suggests the current ombudsman should feel free to express support, if she does in fact feel supportive, for the gun registry.

Twelve of a kind?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 12:05 PM - 0 Comments

To the cases of Linda Keen, Arthur Carty, Bernard Shapiro, Kevin Page, Peter Tinsley, Richard Colvin, Marc Mayrand, Paul Kennedy, Robert Marleau, Munir Sheikh and Pat Stogran, you can perhaps add the curious case of Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak.

The head of the Canadian Firearms Program, who is a strong supporter of the long-gun registry, is quietly being bounced out of the position, CBC News has learned…

CBC’s Brian Stewart reported that Cheliak was set to unveil a major report before the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police at their annual general meeting in Edmonton and get a president’s award for his work on the long-gun registry. But Stewart said Cheliak was told by the RCMP he’s not going to be sent there.

'This report has not been hidden'

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 10:15 PM - 57 Comments

Speaking to reporters last November, a day after a much-watched vote on the firearms registry, Peter Van Loan, as public safety minister, attempted to explain why he was only then releasing a seemingly relevant report into police use of the registry. “I received it and looked at just recently,” he said, “in recent days.”

Turns out the number of days between the report’s delivery and that statement was 49.

The documents include a Sept. 16 letter from William Elliott, the Tories’ hand-picked head of the RCMP, addressed directly to Van Loan. Elliott also serves as Canada’s commissioner of firearms. The letter says the 2008 annual report is enclosed and advises the minister of the 15-day rule for tabling.

Van Loan also received an Oct. 8 memo from his deputy minister, Suzanne Hurtubise, confirming that the RCMP had submitted the report to the minister on Sept. 17 — starting the clock ticking for parliamentary tabling. ”It is recommended that you table the 2008 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Firearms on or before the statutory deadline of Oct. 22, 2009,” Hurtubise advised.

The office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews apparently maintains the report was not delivered until Oct. 9. That is, perhaps notably, the same date of delivery the RCMP provided at the time of the report’s release.

The Commons: ‘Ask my brother-in-law’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 6:33 PM - 84 Comments

The Scene. If the House has been struck with one thing these past few weeks it has been a rather simple question: why is it that this government does what it does? The government, you see, isn’t much for explaining itself, its motivations or its thought processes. And when, on rare occasion, it does attempt to explain, its explanations are often said by its exacting critics to escape logic.

And so perhaps today’s reckoning—a loud and furious afternoon of openly wondering and shouted theories—was inevitable.

The Bloc, for instance, was quite perplexed. Or perhaps apoplectic is a better adjective. They were befuddled (to use another word) by the government’s approach to women’s groups and advocacy. Was the government, wondered Nicole Demers, guided by religion? Was it faithful to ideology?

Nay, said Bev Oda, the besieged Minister of International Cooperation.

“This is not about ideology,” she testified. “This is not about entitlement. This is about how we best use taxpayers’ dollars so that we can make a difference in developing countries.”

The Bloc was unpersuaded. But then Jack Layton was up, apparently hoping to set something else straight. Continue…

The enduring allure of the written word

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 1:49 PM - 59 Comments

And so it turns out that the assistant who sent out Garry Breitkreuz’s colourful press release also wrote a letter to the editor of a smalltown newspaper without identifying his professional association.

The press release was sent to reporters by Breitkreuz’s parliamentary assistant Brant Scott. Scott, last fall, sent a letter to the editor of an Ottawa-area newspaper arguing against the gun registry but did not identify himself in that letter as a member of Breitkreuz’s staff … Scott’s letter does not mention Breitkreuz and, in the letter, he makes the case to dismantle the registry using several arguments Breitkreuz has often used.

Scott, on Wednesday, said he was acting “as a private citizen” when he wrote the letter and “did not see the connection” that he ought to have identified himself as Breitkreuz’s employee.

That letter is here. And since the press release, strangely, seems to have disappeared from Mr. Breitkreuz’s website, we’ve made it available here.

'This language is not me'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 10:28 PM - 106 Comments

In a press release distributed by his office earlier today, Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz was quoted as likening the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to a cult and using some colourful language to lament Michael Ignatieff’s position on the gun registry.

“Mr. Ignatieff’s hollow offer to amend the registry is a plastic olive branch that’s causing amusement and amazement with Canadian gun owners,” says Breitkreuz. “His attempt to force members of his caucus to vote against the bill is politically transparent. Imagine demanding eight members of your caucus to suddenly abandon the wishes of their constituents. This leader is a bully who may well be committing political suicide. With tactics like this, I doubt he’ll be missed on either side of the House …  the Liberal leader is trying to completely change the game in the House of Commons. It’s an act of desperation that insults the intellect of Canadians. His true colours are showing, and if his caucus has any integrity, those colours should be black and blue.”

And so, Mr. Breitkreuz would like to apologize. And to explain that he didn’t write those things. And he has no idea “how that got out of here.”

Happiness is a warm, registered firearm

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 19, 2010 at 1:36 PM - 122 Comments

In a speech to the Canadian Police Association this morning, Michael Ignatieff laid out the Liberal approach to crime, with three proposed changes to the gun registry.

First, we’d change the law, so that people who forget to register their gun can be issued a ticket, rather than face a criminal charge. This will give front line officers the tools you need to distinguish an honest mistake from a threat to public safety. Someone who habitually breaks the law and flouts the regulations should be treated far differently from someone who makes a one-time mistake. One kind of behavior is criminal, the other isn’t. And you need the appropriate tools to deal with each situation. That’s a message we heard loud and clear.

Second, we’ll permanently eliminate fees for new licenses, renewals, and upgrades.

And third, we’ll streamline paperwork, to make registration as quick and easy as possible.

Liberals will apparently be required to vote against Conservative Candice Hoeppner’s bill—a private member’s initiative that would effectively end the registry—when it comes up for a final vote. Eight Liberals (Simms, Russell, Rota, Martin, Easter, D’Amours, Bagnell and Andrews) voted in favour of the bill on second reading and two (Guarnieri and Karygiannis) abstained. In his speech, Mr. Ignatieff said the party had been working with these MPs on the proposed reforms.

Even if you move those 10 votes to the no side, the bill would pass by a count of 156-147.

'Just recently'

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 12:32 PM - 47 Comments

Peter Van Loan, Thursday. I received it and looked at just recently, in recent days.

Toronto Star, today. Responding by email to questions from the Star, RCMP Sgt. Greg Cox said late Friday the force submitted its 2008 firearms report on Oct. 9, four weeks ago.

For it before he was against it, Easter edition

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 6, 2009 at 2:46 PM - 14 Comments

Fun facts. From 1892 to 2005, Canada had a solicitor general. From Oct. 2002 to Dec. 2003, Liberal Wayne Easter, as noted here, held that title. From April 2003 to Dec. 2003, that position put Easter in charge of the federal firearm registry. And on Wednesday night, Easter voted to have long guns removed from that registry.

In July 2003, six gun owners showed up at Easter’s constituency office, reported that they had not registered their weapons and invited him to take action. He declined. “I don’t direct police operations,” he told Canwest at the time, “that’s up to the police to decide. And as I’ve said a number of times, the police know the difference between somebody trying to make a point politically versus concerns for public safety.”

Three months later though, with the release of statistics showing a drop in gun-related deaths, Easter was sought out for comment and seemed generally supportive of the registry’s general purpose. Canadian Press dispatch after the jump. Relevant portion in bold. Continue…

'That was totally useless. Thank you.'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 6, 2009 at 10:49 AM - 46 Comments

Strolling casually around the House of Commons foyer yesterday, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan happens upon a group of reporters. A delightful exchange of pleasantries follows.

Question: How long have you had the report from the Commissioner of Firearms?

Hon. Peter Van Loan: The report from the Commissioner of Firearms has to be tabled tomorrow which it will be.  I know that some information – some information on it will be coming out shortly.  Some of it has already been released in the public accounts.  The one that I know has attracted some interest is the number of times that the police access it which is close to three and a half million times.  What’s very interesting about that statistic is of those three and a half million times only 2.4 percent of the time is it actually information about the registration of a long-gun that would eliminated by the long-gun registry.  If the bill to eliminate the long-gun registry is passed and becomes law, 97 percent of the times that the police utilize that information from the firearms centre would continue to be in place because of course the bill does not eliminate the requirement for licensing of gun owners and only, as I said, 2.4 percent of those queries had to do with information related to long-gun registration.

Question: (Inaudible)

Hon. Peter Van Loan: I am referring to the 2008 statistics.  And what’s more interesting -

Question: (Inaudible)

Hon. Peter Van Loan: If I could finish, what’s more interesting -

Question: You haven’t answered my question once yet though.

Continue…

For it before he was against it

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 12:13 PM - 27 Comments

An odd footnote to the gun registry debate that was pointed out to me last night: though he voted against it on third and final reading, when the Firearms Act was offered for second reading in the House 14 years ago, a young and idealistic Reform MP by the name of Stephen Harper voted in favour.

The Canadian Press dispatch on that vote is below, the relevant portion in bold. Continue…

The revolution will eventually end up on YouTube

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 2:16 AM - 18 Comments

This footage is apparently a couple months old, but it is indeed Michael Ignatieff standing up in public and saying things about stuff—specifically arctic sovereignty, agriculture, Conservative attack ads, Afghanistan, nuclear energy, firearms and pharmacare.

Do try to contain yourselves.