PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal
DATE:
2004.02.11
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
Ideas
PAGE:
A15
COLUMN:
Lorne Gunter
BYLINE:
Lorne Gunter
SOURCE:
The Edmonton Journal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liberal
core voters now the only supporters of gun registry: The rest of Canadians see
it for what it is, a huge sinkhole for tax dollars
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From
the start I doubted last week's story that the federal government was about to
axe the gun registry. Newspapers around the country ran headlines declaring
"Free vote may kill gun registry," pegged to a letter sent by Sarnia
Liberal MP Roger Gallaway to constituents on Jan. 19.
I
had seen the letter, all two lines of it, three or four days before the news
broke. It was nowhere near that certain. Gallaway had suggested "Under the
reforms being instituted by Mr. Martin it may be very well that the Firearms
Program will die of 'financial malnutrition'."
If
the PM implemented his promised democratic reforms before Parliament voted to
authorize the registry's budget for the coming year, and if the PM decided the
registry estimate would be a free vote, and if enough freed-up Liberal members
voted against the appropriation of funds, the registry might die for want of
money.
Yeah,
yeah, and if the moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars,
then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars.
I
admire Gallaway's courage. He was one of the few Liberal MPs willing to disagree
publicly with Jean Chretien while Chretien was prime minister. He is not a
backbench trained seal.
And
he is now both the parliamentary secretary to Government House Leader Jacques
Saada and the MP charged by the prime minister with stewarding democratic
reforms through Parliament. When Gallaway speaks on the subject of free votes,
then, you would think he was speaking from authority.
But
under Chretien, Gallaway was not only just a brave speaker, he was sometimes an
impetuous one, sounding off before thinking or before he had consensus from his
caucus colleagues.
Old
habits appear to die hard.
Even
though he is now a senior parliamentary secretary in the Liberal government,
Gallaway appears to have been merely speculating when he forecast that the
cabinet would permit a free vote on the registry's funding and when he guessed
as many as 50 government MPs might side with the Conservatives to cut off
funding and permit the registry to wither on the vine.
Gallaway's
immediate boss, House Leader Jacques Saada contradicted him, as did the prime
minister. Both insisted the registry's budget vote would not be up for a free
vote. It would be "whipped," and it would be a confidence vote,
meaning the government would consider itself defeated if the appropriation
failed, so it would be enforcing party-line discipline in the vote -- no free
vote, Liberal MPs would vote as they were told and they would be told to
preserve the registry.
Why?
Two
reasons: The Liberals continue to delude themselves about the efficacy of the
registry, and the registry plays well with core Liberal voters.
Increasingly,
though, it plays well only with those voters and no one else.
Deputy
Prime Minister Anne McLellan, who is back in charge of the registry, continues
to insist a majority support it. Monday, McLellan claimed in the House of
Commons that "We should not lose sight of the fact that Canadians are
committed to gun control."
Actually,
most Canadians may like the vague notion of gun control, but they are
increasingly opposed to the registry. Last week, pollsters Ipsos-Reid revealed
that just 43 per cent of Canadians favour retention of the registry. That's down
from a high of over 80 per cent in some polls in 1998. For the first time in
Ipsos-Reid's surveying, a majority (53 per cent) called for the registry to be
scrapped.
The
"Canadians are committed to gun control" delusion was not McLellan's
only one, though. In the same breath she also insisted the Liberals had been
"absolutely clear, year after year, in terms of what the firearms program
cost."
Huh!?
Does she honestly expect anyone -- anyone at all -- to swallow that after the
Auditor General's scathing report on the registry's costs? After the Auditor
General labelled the registry the worst cost overrun ever investigated by her
department? After the AG identified at least $200 million in registry spending
that had never been reported to Parliament (approximately one-third of the total
at that time) and after she withdrew her auditors from the registry
investigation because the books were so convoluted and dishonest not even her
bloodhounds could make sense of them?
The
real reason Liberals like McLellan continue to cling to the registry farce can
also be seen inside the Ipsos-Reid poll numbers.
"Older
Canadians are more likely to want the federal gun registry to be dumped than the
younger ... Men are also more apt than women to want ... (it) scrapped (58 per
cent of men vs. 46 per cent of women)." Rural Canadians are more in favour
of ending the registry than urban Canadians, Canadians outside central Canada
are more in favour than those in Ontario and Quebec, and those without
university degrees want the registry dumped more than those with degrees.
In
other words, the registry remains popular only with younger, university-trained,
female voters in big cities in Central Canada. But those voters are the Liberal
base.
So
the registry also remains popular with the Liberal government, even if all other
Canadians long ago came to see it for the sham it is.
lgunter@thejournal.canwest.com
IPSOS-REID NEWS CENTRE – February 1, 2004
Slim Majority Want to See Gun Registry Scrapped
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=2038