REGINA – Federal New Democrats distanced themselves from the Harper government Monday, stressing that they wanted no part of a scheme to dismantle the long gun registry.
Less than two weeks before Parliament votes on whether to kill Conservative legislation that could scrap the registry, the opposition party says Prime Minister Stephen Harper is using the debate to divide Canadians and to distract them about more important issues facing the country, such as the economy and health care.
"Stephen Harper has painted a deeply offensive stereotype of rural Canadians as if their priorities start and stop with guns," NDP leader Jack Layton said in a speech to dozens of supporters at the Saskatchewan legislature.
"As if their farms, their pensions and their health care, are not all important too. (Liberal leader) Michael Ignatieff is playing the same dangerous game of driving wedges between Canadians. Michael Ignatieff’s tent apparently has no room for rural farmers and aboriginal Canadians."
While the Conservative party announced Monday that it was launching radio ads targeting all MPs who previously supported the bill, both the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois have attacked NDP leader Jack Layton for not demanding his MPs vote in favour of saving the registry.
"I would invite the NDP leader to stop betraying the principles he claims to defend," Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe told his own caucus in Montreal on Monday. "It’s time for Mr. Layton to be something other than just a friendly face, and for him to start acting like a leader who demonstrates leadership by ordering a party vote on this question or principle."
The NDP ran Quebec campaign ads in the last election that blasted the Conservatives for wanting to get rid of the registry.
But NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair, who represents the Montreal-area riding of Outremont, said that Duceppe is playing political games instead of trying to fix problems with the registry. As part of its proposed solution, the NDP has recommended decriminalizing first and second offences for long-gun owners who fail to register.
"Our first preference is to have changes, but failing that, of course we’re going to make sure that the (long) gun registry is maintained," said Mulcair outside a caucus strategy session. "There’s no doubt about that. The NDP will not be responsible for dismantling the gun registry."
Charlie Angus, who represents the northern Ontario riding of Timmins-James Bay, is one of four New Democrats who initially supported the government legislation, introduced by Tory backbencher Candice Hoeppner, but then vowed to vote against the bill.
"We don’t want to be standing beside these (Conservative) guys at the end of the day because they do not represent anything progressive for Canada, and they certainly don’t represent rural Canadians and the way they try and make our rural people to be some kind of dumb crazy hicks," said Angus, on his way into the strategy meeting. "That’s not what rural Canada is about, and we believe as New Democrats, that rural Canada is our turf."
Angus said he understands that guns are seen as a necessary tool in some northern aboriginal communities where people must hunt for food, but he said his party is trying to find a balance that responds to concerns of both urban and rural Canadians
"(For) the Conservatives, this is what they do," said Angus. "They poison the waters of everybody around them, so let the attack ads come. I’m not losing any sleep over this."
The MPs say they are hoping to demonstrate that they can represent the interests or rural Canadians and address legitimate concerns about the long gun registry without killing it.
"I guess when you’ve got both the Liberals and the Conservatives gunning for you, you know you’re probably doing the right thing," said New Democrat Pat Martin, who represents the riding of Winnipeg Centre. "I can tell you it’s an easy choice for me, because in my riding people want more gun control, not less."
Malcolm Allen, NDP MP for Welland, said he and his colleagues are moving to support the registry in response to the mood in their ridings.
"What it boiled down to was listening to my constituents," he said. "It’s kind of ironic the Conservatives are saying listen to your constituents. That doesn’t mean to say they’ll always agree with the Conservatives."
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