The most important word in “Political Action” is ACTION

The most important word in “Political Action” is ACTION.

On Sunday, March 25, the CSSA published 35 talking points on Bill C-71,  The Firearm Owners Harassment Ac t [i] . We also highlighted the three most effective methods to express your opinion to your elected representatives, the Minister of Public Safety and the Prime Minister of Canada.

1. Send emails.
2. Write physical letters.
3. Phone M.P.s, the Minister of Public Safety’s office and the Prime Minister’s office.

In the two weeks following the publication of our talking points on Bill C-71, individual M.P.s, including the Public Safety Minister and Prime Minister’s offices, report receiving over 1,600 letters PER DAY. The Ministry of Public Safety’s phone lines crashed when gun owners overloaded the system with calls to express their displeasure with the bill.

This proves that the most important word in the phrase “Political Action” is not  political –– it’s  ACTION.

This outpouring of opposition to Bill C-71 is wonderful, However before we pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, remember that this is only the beginning of the battle for our rights.

Politicians have short memories.

If we do not keep this issue on the front burner, politicians will forget and move on to the next most vocal person. Unless we keep our opposition to Bill C-71,  The Firearm Owners Harassment Act , loud and public, our elected representatives will forget all about us.

The strength of any association, the Canadian Shooting Sports Association included, is our ability to motivate our membership into action. We proved this over the past two weeks with the tsunami of letters and phone calls that swamped Hill staffers and took down the Department of Public Safety’s phone system.

But this is only the beginning.

Practical, effective politics is boring stuff. It’s also essential to our success.

Write or call your Member of Parliament, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau every week for the next 18 months and ask them questions. Demand responses. When they do not answer you, write and ask why. Force them to keep this issue at the forefront of their minds until the 2019 federal election.

But don’t stop there. Don’t do it alone.

Ask your gun-owning friends these two questions:

1. Do you value your guns?
2. Have you written a letter to express your displeasure with Bill C-71 this week?

If the answer to the second question is “no,” ask them again if they truly value their guns.

We are judged, not by our good intentions, but by our actions.

We spend time on the things we value most.

Do you value your guns?

Prove it. Spend 30 minutes this week, and every week until the 2019 election, making sure your elected representatives know where you stand on this issue. Make sure all your gun-owning friends do the same.

If you live in any of the following ridings, you are in a unique position to strike fear into the heart of your M.P. Each of these Members of Parliament won their riding by less than 5 per cent of the vote.

• Alaina Lockhart –– Fundy Royal, NB
• Matthew Dubé –– Beloeil-Chambly, QC
• Denis Lemieux –– Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, QC
• David Graham –– Laurentides-Labelle, QC
• Jean Rioux –– Saint-Jean, QC
• Bryan May –– Cambridge, ON
• Mike Bossio –– Hastings-Lennox and Addington, ON
• Bob Nault –– Kenora, ON
• Deb Schulte –– King-Vaughan, ON
• Marc Serré –– Nickel Belt, ON
• Kim Rudd –– Northumberland-Peterborough South, ON
• MaryAnn Mihychuk –– Kildonan-St. Paul, MB
• Jati Sidhu –– Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon, BC
• Dan Ruimy –– Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, BC

These M.P.s are vulnerable. Better yet, they know it. Wayne Easter, the former Solicitor General of Canada, knows the value of rural Canadians:

“We haven’t learned as the Liberal party, if you’re going to form, if you’re going to develop policy if you’re going to implement policy, you have to form government. And we need rural Canada in our camp. And I can tell you gun control cost us, in rural Canada, at least 60 seats.” [ii]

It’s our job to fan the flames of fear already burning in their hearts.

Justin Trudeau cares about votes. Justin Trudeau cares about re-election.

Send a clear message to our Prime Minister that Bill C-71,  The Firearm Owners Harassment Act , will cost him votes. It will cost him M.P.s. It could even cost him his fancy chair in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Send your message every week between now and the 2019 federal election.

Enlist all your friends.

Make C-71 an election issue.

Speak to our Prime Minister in the only language he truly understands –– VOTES!

 

 

Sources:

• [i] https://s3.amazonaws.com/CSSA/PDF/CSSA-C-71-Talking-Points.pdf
• [ii] http://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/cpac-special/episodes/90002961/