Gun Registration...Another Harper victory

The private member’s bill to kill Canada’s long gun registry was one of the best-executed Harper Conservative ploys ever devised. Catering to the large rural vote the party can now breathe a sigh of relief as the Liberal/NDP/Bloq coalition votes to keep the legislation in place. Liberals once more stumbled into the trap of supporting another Conservative initiative. It was a narrow escape but the Harperites outmaneuvered and outsmarted Ignatieff and the Liberal caucus from the outset.


The Conservatives in backing the private member’s bill (avoiding a vote of non-confidence) met a mountain of protests from every anti-gun lobby, police force and gathering of police officials in the country. The move came off exactly as planned with the Liberals showing unity on an issue that in real terms the Conservatives were ready to support. The NDP caucus played perfectly into the mix with a great many of their members representing large sprawling urban and rural constituents. NDP members one after another, caught in the crossfire, changed from supporting the rural kill the registry to siding with the more numerous urbanite keep the registry faction. After all, votes count to remain in parliament and the NDP members had to appease the majority while claiming to be voting in conscience for the best interest of the riding and the country even if it meant deserting their traditional supporters on the issue.

Liberals and Michael Ignatieff will pay dearly once the media begins to reveal how naive the party was in acting once more in the interest of Harpers minority Conservatives after avoiding having to scrap the registration law. Is this the final act of by a trembling old Liberal party that will lead to American style right wing majority government in Canada? Are we destined to have a rightwing Reform Party/ Conservative coalition with its Canadian version of Fox news and George W. Bush style politics?