Thursday, August 26, 2010

Dear Mr. Layton: Please Take Note

Letters to the Editor
By SUN READERS
Ottawa Sun

Last Updated: August 25, 2010 2:00am

Layton under the gun

Jack Layton is trying to bury his head in the sand. He refuses to acknowledge the responsibility he and his party will bear if the gun registry is dismantled.


I am the mother of Polytechnique victim Anne-Marie Edward and have been involved in the gun control issue for 20 years now.

Layton is hiding behind the claim that the bill to repeal the registry is a private member’s bill, in spite of the evidence that it is a government bill. Before the last vote, he instructed his caucus members to say: ‘This’ if you support the Conservatives ... and ‘that’ if you oppose the Conservatives. The result: 12 NDP and eight Liberals voted with the Tories.

The Liberals have come to their senses and will whip the vote. If the gun registry goes down the drain for lack of Jack Layton’s leadership, the Canadian people will remember him, not as the founder of the White Ribbon Campaign, but as the man who let the victims of Polytechnique and the women of Canada down when we needed him most.

Of course, dismantling the gun registry is a Conservative initiative. Don’t worry, women will remember that as well. But Layton is in a position to stop them. You cannot side with the devil and pretend you are an angel.

Suzanne Laplante Edward
Pierrefonds, Que.

22 comments:

double nickel said...

Excellent letter.

The Grey Lady said...

As a woman I can Not wait for the registry to be dismantled. I am sorry and abhor the fact that those ladies died, it was a despicable act by Mr. Gamil Gharbi that the registry could not have changed.

The man had a FAC, he bought it legally, how in world would having registering it with the government have changed one damn thing about that day?

The registry does NOT make one more woman in this country safer, not one. I have no interest in paying for something that is merely optics for politicos and nothing else. It allows them to get away with their slim inaction on real issues, It is duplicitous, wasteful and silly to the extreme.

Gene Rayburn said...

Um thanks Grey Lady for saying nothing. Are those the Lady Conbot talking points?

RuralSandi said...

Geez - is that Deborah "Grey" lady?

What a load of BS there girl.

RuralSandi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Grey Lady said...

Oh sugar plum, you can disagree on any point I may or may not have made, but no need to get insulting by calling me a (she shudders in distaste) "Conservative".

Notice you didn't answer my question.

RuralSandi said...

Do you not realize that the Montreal situation is a symbol of violence against women?

Grey Lady, sugar plum, well that's classy talk.

Can you prove that the registry doesn't make one woman safer? Can you promise that all hunters and farmers haven't temper issues, drinking issues or domestic violence issues? You'll probably come back with can I prove....but hey, Harper doesn't want anyone to know the report.

Jim Parrett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jim Parrett said...

Now everybody, leave The Grey Lady alone. Police chiefs and emergency room doctors be damned. TGL knows best.

The Grey Lady said...

Do you not realize that the Montreal situation is a symbol of violence against women?

Ummm Yes Sandi I do, sooo what? A symbol of real substance is to be cheapened by being matched to a symbol that amounts to very expensive window dressing?

Grey Lady, sugar plum, well that's classy talk.

Your right I apologize for lowering myself to Mr. Match Game's level.

Can you prove that the registry doesn't make one woman safer? Honestly I can't, because the registration process does NOTHING, it is the FAC process that is supposed to weed out the bad tempers, the drinkers, the RCMP does a very deep search.

I think I asked YOU defenders of the faith to show ME how it does keep women safer? Just how would the registry, had it existed at the time, how would it have kept those women alive?

Can you promise that all hunters and farmers haven't temper issues, drinking issues or domestic violence issues? You'll probably come back with can I prove....but hey, Harper doesn't want anyone to know the report.

No I can't promise you any of those things Sandi and neither can the registry.

As for Mr. Harper, he is a politician, he plays to his voters just as every other politician sells themselves for theirs. It is the nature of the beast.

Gayle said...

"Mr. Gamil Gharbi"

His chosen name was Mark Lepine.

"The registry does NOT make one more woman in this country safer, not one."

Except all those female cops...

It also obviously makes the author of the letter feel safer.

But if you have no interest in paying for something that is merely optics, please write Prime Minister Stephen Harper and ask him to revoke those silly sentencing crime bills. They are going to cost us billions of dollars, and will not make us any safer. Since you are obviously concerned with where your tax dollars go I am sure you will agree these bills are much more serious and demand much more opposition than a registry that costs Canadians each 15 cents a year.

Anonymous said...

The entire female population of Canada is at risk of being shot to death if the NDP don't whip. LOL.
Go read Chrystal Ocean to understand how this argument is absolutely pointless to supporters of the NDP.

Gayle said...

It's absolute nonsense to anyone.

Who exactly is saying that?

Unknown said...

The Grey Lady; think about a domestic dispute. The police will confiscate firearms for precautionary measures. If the police don’t have any data which tells them exactly how many firearms a person owns, how can they honestly protect the people within the residence?

Since 2005; approx 11,000 people had their firearm licence revoked, if there is no data such has certificates numbers and serial numbers for all their firearms how can the authorities ensure the public, all firearms from those unlicensed people have been disposed.

ridenrain said...

Limiting access to firearms ensures that no women will have one if they need to protect themselves either. All the mass shootings since have happened in spite of the registry and it's omnipotent but efficient ways.
Luke: with those 11000 people without guns, I'd expect a drop in shootings but that isn't happening, is it. In fact, 2 more in Toronto were shot outside Kensington Market tonight, and 4 were shot the day before.

It's time the Liberals looked at the facts and stopped ramming through this ideologically driven boondoggle.

Gene Rayburn said...

Limiting access to firearms ensures that no women will be safe from gun nuts like Ridenrain. Of course she could get a gun to defend herself but the it's rather beside the point after Ridenrain's crew has done all their shooting.
Luke: with those 11000 people without guns, don't you think they should have a chance to shoot them first? I know Ridenrain would rather just allow his ideology to rule. In fact, 2 more in Toronto were shot outside Kensington Market tonight, and 4 were shot the day before. Of course this event never happened. Ridenrain just pulled some legitimate sounding details together and created a hypothetical story to suit his own point. No need for proof when you can make it all up.

It's time the Conservatives looked at the facts and stopped ramming through this flawed and ideological narrow repeal.

Gayle said...

"with those 11000 people without guns, I'd expect a drop in shootings but that isn't happening, is it."

With all that super super expensive tough on crime legislation you would think there would be no violent crime at all, and yet...

Although it is obvious what you are trying to do - trying to create some narrative that the registry is useless, lest the good citizens of this country be distracted by the actual facts of the situation. Your problem is that you are just not very good at it. Sorry.

ridenrain said...

It's a boondoggle. It's done nothing to stop or slow crime. It has done a great deal taking money from taxpayers and shifting it to Liberal insiders and allied progressive groups though. The FAC system did the job but that didn't buy Liberal votes.

Drop the ideological hammer and look at the results before you dump another billion into it.
As it stands, less than half of the long guns are registered and I expect they won't be finding much success doing the rest. I expect many NDP-MPs will be getting some very stern ultimatums soon.

Gerrard787 said...

His chosen name was Mark Lepine.
- Gayle


Why was this new name taken?

Lifestyle choice?

Because his non-practising Muslim father was a man of great violence who directed much of it towards his son?

The same father who had an incredible hatred towards women.

But no, none of that would have had any effect on a young boy's psychology.

In fact, 2 more in Toronto were shot outside Kensington Market tonight, and 4 were shot the day before. - Gene Rayburn

Long guns?

ridenrain said...

.. and in todays news:

"Toronto Police said they raided the York Mills Rd. home and found the loaded Beretta Parabellum handgun in the diaper box."


Police said the firearm was accessible to two small children who lived in the home.

But he's just a career thug, probably votes Liberal and contributes to the rich mosaic of urban Toronto life. Not like those mean old hunters who only vote Conservative. They must be punished.

Gayle said...

"Why was this new name taken?"

Who cares?

Wait. I know the answer. Racists who want to make this about his ethnicity and religion care.

Serial rapist and women killer Paul Bernardo is white. Serial rapist and woman killer Colonel Williams is white.

Gayle said...

Because white men can hate women too.