Thursday, November 10, 2011

Conservative crime bill

I am happy to hear that both Ontario and Quebec are refusing to pay for the costs of the federal Conservatives crime bill. The Conservatives crime bill is ineffective, expensive and not very useful. It’s good to see provinces standing up to the Harper government. Also, the Conservatives bill to not only abolish the gun registry but to also destroy all records from the registry is particularly egregious. Quebec wants to create its own gun registry and thus the federal government should give the Quebec data to the Quebec government. Doing otherwise is ideologically extreme. I’m glad to hear that Quebec is thinking of suing the federal government for the data. In principle, Ontario should also create its own gun registry. The votes are likely there for doing that in the legislature. However, some NDP MPPs might vote against it if there were a vote because they represent rural ridings where the gun registry is unpopular. However, if all Liberals MPPs voted for a provincial gun registry, it would need only one NDP vote to pass. Also, the Ontario Liberals need to try to regain support in rural Ontario, and introducing a provincial gun registry wouldn’t be popular in rural Ontario, so I think the Ontario Liberals should put off such an idea right now.
Also of note is that Julian Fantino once supported the federal gun registry but now as a Conservative cabinet minister opposes it. To paraphrase John Kerry, he was for the gun registry before he was against it.
Also, Vic Toawes needs to lighten up. He takes things too seriously and doesn’t need to keep scowling all the time. He’s just cranky too much.