Kady O'Malley Is NOT DEAD!

As you may have read earlier today, CBC's Kady O'Malley, in heroically covering the oily maneuverings leading up to tonight's totally fucking historic vote on Bill C-391, took a dive down a flight of stairs just after the vote itself. In the confusion that reigned afterwards, terrible rumors circulated that Ms. O'Malley had gone the way of Gordon Lightfoot, or would at least need a prosthetic arm. These rumors went nowhere; I couldn't find Akin's email address.

But in any case, I have just been informed that Kady is fine, though the limb may need an ice-pad if not a replacement.

You may return to your frenzied celebrations. Remember its just Wednesday, and you have to work tomorrow.

I Can't Bust A Move

...as well as I could when the footage was shot. Nevertheless, here's me doing my superiority dance. Play it loud. Oh, and any Tories thinking of making this an election issue--come get some, girlykins.

Crunch Time, Liberals

D'you want to endure this man smiling for the rest of your natural life?

And, oh yeah, there's the leadership question, too. If Iggy can't hold the troops in line here there will be immediate and intense speculation as to his continued viability as Liberal Leader, which he may not survive. Imagine the painstaking work of the last three months strangled in its crib, clubbed with a brick, and then spit upon.

h/t

Gruending On The Gun Registry

Dennis Gruending pens a nice defense. Here's just a few bits re the claims made against the LGR:

It costs people too much to register rifles and shotguns and the process is swathed in red tape. In fact, it’s free to register or transfer the registration of rifles and shotguns and gun owners can register their guns online or over the phone in minutes.

[...]

Gun violence is a big city problem but long gun registry targets people in rural areas. In fact, gun deaths are higher in rural areas and Western provinces. In Yukon, for example, gun deaths run at about three times the national average.

[...]

The firearms registry does nothing to prevent violence against women. Safety experts and frontline workers women’s shelters across the country beg to differ. They say that the registry helps reduce violence against women. Do you prefer to believe them or to believe a gun shop owner on this one?

Go get 'em, Dennis.

NDP Double Game?

Rob Silver ponders the significance of this bit of muttering from Brad Lavigne:

"Far too often, Eastern-based reporters say it¹s the Liberals and the Tories who are neck-and-neck and fighting it out for government," Lavigne said from Regina Sunday. "In fact, in Western Canada and now we believe with the gun registry, it¹s the NDP not the Liberals who are the competition in out here.

His conclusion, which sounds plausible to me, is that while Jack Layton is telling the East he's doing all he can to save the registry, he's telling the West that he's willing to see the thing dead. The problem is, the gun-registry votes are fast approaching: at some point Jack has to open the box, and Schrödinger's cat will decohere.

PS. At this point the numbers on C-391 are very close, perhaps tied. If one or two more NDP MPS switch, then the ball will be back in the LPoC court, and the test will be how effectively Iggy can whip his own people. Should he fail, all the good work of this past summer will have been for nothing.

Finally, NDP Begins To Question Jack Layton's Leadership

...on Bill C-391:

Manitoba NDP MP Jim Maloway said he was not consulted by Layton or anyone else on the proposed bill.
"I got a heads-up on Saturday that there would be announcement by the leader Monday morning on the gun registry," said Maloway.

Regardless, said Maloway, he still plans to vote with Hoeppner.

"Nothing there changes my view on the long-gun registry," said Maloway.

He also said Layton's proposal is too little too late.

"This bill just went through committee last spring," said Maloway. "Where were all these amendments at the committee?"

If you read closely here, it sounds as though Maloway is admitting that Layton's new bill will not derail the vote on C-391. Furthermore, read between the lines and it sounds like Maloway is saying that he will not co-operate in the bringing forward of Jack's new "compromise" bill. Looks like the NDP leader has lost control of the debate and his own caucus.

So, is his gun registry stance Jack Layton's worst political mistake in a career that hasn't seen too many of them?

Jack's Latest Feint

Mr. Layton is in a difficult spot: 12 of his MPs from rural ridings have told their constituents that they will oppose the registry. The votes of those 12 MP, when added to those of the 144 members of the Conservative caucus plus the two independents who normally vote along Conservative lines, would spell the failure of the motion to kill Ms. Hoeppner’s bill.

But Mr. Layton, who represents a downtown Toronto riding, personally supports the registry, as do other members of his caucus from urban constituencies. So he is proposing to introduce his own legislation – possibly in the form of a private-member’s bill – to address rural concerns.

You're kidding? A new bill wouldn't come up for a vote until the registry was dead and gone, so its useless. A private member's bill might never come up, so is less than useless. And, please, can we dispense with this silly argument about how Jack's being "brave" in allowing his back-benchers to "vote their conscience"? What a load of BS; the NDP knows how to march in lock step as well as any party in the Western word. Pretending that they've suddenly discovered the principle of local democracy is just too rich.

Update: Its to be a private member's bill. I've no idea how this is supposed to "stave off" a final vote on Bill C-391, and presumably neither does Jack or anyone else. Is the vote on C-391 supposed to be postponed until Jack's private member's bill slowly rises to the top of the parliamentary queue?

Update 2: Here's how:

Layton was pressed by reporters on how he expects this bill to become a reality, when Hoeppner's bill is lined up for a vote so soon after Parliament resumes. He suggested that if all parties come onside, they could use the bill as a basis to reach a solution — presumably meaning that Hoeppner's bill would either be amended or would die.

So Jack's compromise would require the Tories to *cough cough* dump bill C-391.

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.

Jack Layton Doesn't Want The Responsibility

...for letting the gun registry die, even though it will live or die based on his decision.

This is a watershed moment for the NDP. At the federal level, they've played the also rans for as long as I've been alive. And in some ways, its been a plus for them. They could say anything and take any stand knowing that it the end it meant nothing, because the final call was always in the hands of the big-boys. All that was left for them was to rake up the fruit of discontent--a seat here, a seat there.

Now they are getting a taste of what being a potential governing party is all about. You have to make choices; you have to take stands. And you have to accept the consequences.

If Jack lets the gun-registry die in the night while talking it up before the cameras, this will tell you something about him and the party he purports to lead. Specifically, that neither is ready to govern.

Not The Response They Were Hoping For

The Tories take their anti-gun-registry crusade to Thompson Manitoba and find that the local population does not share their zealotry. Or possibly the chicken sucked.

Meanwhile Joe Comartin frets and worries but over the registry but misses the obvious solution: C-391 is really a government bill--PM Harper has admitted as much--so have Jack Layton whip the vote.

Or pay the price: you think people don't see through this silly charade?

Bill C-391 Stalled?

Looks like it. You can read the story through the link for a sense of the whole procedural song and dance, but bottom line is that Mark Holland's motion seems to have thrown a spanner into the works:

If Holland's motion is defeated, the bill is referred to report stage and then amendments can be introduced. After that, the bill goes on to third reading.

"Everything hinges on this concurrence motion," [Tory MP] Dave MacKenzie said. "Nothing can happen until that vote occurs."

And MacKenzie said it's unlikely the vote will occur before summer recess.

Go Mark Holland.

Although, if this rumor is true and we are heading for a government-triggered fall election, it would make sense for the Tories to stall their own bill so as to run on it again.

Tories Limp On Crime

From the Young Liberals Of Canada, who've already given similar treatment to the NDP.

H/T

What It Comes Down To

Mr. Layton has not said yet how he will deal with the 12 MPs who voted with the government. Does he whip a private members’ vote? Or does he allow the registry to be killed?

Speaks Volumes

Go Young Liberals!

New Poll On Gun Registry

Twice as many Canadians (59 per cent) say the registration of rifles and shotguns should be maintained compared to those who say it should be scrapped (27 per cent). In every province but Manitoba and Saskatchewan more people support the registry than oppose it. The poll also shows that women support the gun registry (66 per cent) compared to men (51 per cent). More people living with gun owners (47 per cent) support the registry than oppose it (36 per cent) and a substantial proportion of gun owners (36 per cent) actually support the registry (versus 59 per cent opposed). The opponents may be louder and better financed, but among households with guns in Canada, votes are almost evenly split. Many politicians from rural areas seem to forget that women vote too.

All right, the Coalition for Gun Control commissioned the poll, but the detailed results are here, and to these non-expert eyes the questions don't look like they've been torqued. Its also a pretty big (1,506) sample. Maybe, as D-Day gets draws closer (bill C-391 may be up for a June vote), minds are beginning to focus, and change.

Food for thought, anyhow.

NDP Feeling Heat Over Gun Registry?

As Imp notices, Jack Layton is no longer "ruling out" whipping the New Democrat caucus over the final vote on Bill C-391. Hardly definitive language, but encouraging. Now that the NDP no longer has dissident Liberal MPs to hide behind, the hot potato lands in their lap, and I think they will look awful (at least to the progressive voters they share with the Libs.) if they allow Harper and Co. to pass this measure.

Which is why I think Iggy's laying the discipline on his own gang is good politics, even if the registry is repealed in the end. And even if you're a gun registry opponent that otherwise supports the LPoC: I mean, personal feelings aside, why would you not want somebody else to take the blame for its demise?

A Whipped Lib. Vote On The Gun Registry?

“Let me be perfectly clear: the Liberal Party opposes the Conservative government’s effort to scrap the gun registry altogether and we will vote against the Hoeppner bill at third reading in the House of Commons,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “Instead, we’re proposing sensible changes that address the legitimate concerns of our rural caucus, while upholding the integrity of the gun registry.”

If this means that the Lib caucus will be made to show up for the vote, and made to vote no on C-391, then kudos. If it means less than that, then I call Bullshit.

As for the proposed reforms, which involve streamlining the system, decrimalizing first time offences, and waiving fees--they're all fine and hopefully will appease the concerns of Liberals from rural ridings. But at the end of the day there has to be a registry there to reform.

Update: CTV interprets this statement to mean that the Lib. caucus will be required to vote against C-391.

Wayne LaPierre Is Sooo Happy

As my friend and colleague Dave Kopel, research director of the Independence Institute in Colorado, astutely noted, "Repeal of the Canadian registry would be of tremendous global significance. Repeal would also shatter the claim by the Canadian gun prohibition lobby that gun control in Canada is an irreversible ratchet."

This is huge on the world stage and made all the more significant as a backdrop in the pending debate on the United Nations' global gun ban.

Wayne LePierre, author of the above, is EVP of the National Rifle Association. It's worth noting that he thinks Bill C-391 will pass 3rd reading with roughly the same votes it got last time around.

Respond, Iggy

Yesterday, we noted that The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is trying to pressure the opposition parties to appoint anti-gun registry MPs to the committee that will consider a bill (C-391) to kill the registry when Parliament resumes in March. They argue that, since a majority in the House passed the bill once, the committees that consider its further progress should reflect this fact. Today, the Winnipeg Free Press has picked up the story, and we learn the CTF position is also that of the Harper Torys.

More importantly, the Free Press has attempted to contact the opposition parties to ask if they are going to play along:

A spokesman for NDP Leader Jack Layton said the NDP has no plans to change their appointee to the committee. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office did not respond when asked for comment.

I sometimes get the impression that the LPoC brain trust, while paying lip-service to the registry for the benefit of hardcore Liberal supporters (who support it), would really like to see it die quietly in the night so as to be off the table as an election issue in rural Canada. Not responding to this kind of query only exacerbates that impression.

Whereas, I am convinced, fighting C-391 in committee and in the Senate can still kill it. What are the odds that Harper and Co. will go another year without proroguing again, thus resetting the clock on all of their legislation? Given their recent behavior, I would say those odds are pretty high.

(I am also about half-convinced that this is one of those pieces of legislation that the Tories don't really want to ever be signed into law. But that's another post)

Gun Registry: THE PLAN

Click image to read EVIL Plan.