Despite punishment, many residents support MPs' decisions

Thunder Bay’s two MPs took a bullet to end the long-gun registry and residents say they’re glad that they did.

MPs Bruce Hyer (NDP, Thunder Bay – Superior North) and John Rafferty (NDP, Thunder Bay – Rainy River) voted in favour of the Conservative government’s Bill C-19, which passed second reading 156-123 Tuesday. The two area MPs voted against party wishes and have since faced sanctions against them.

The party kicked both of them off their committees and critic roles, as well as they aren’t allowed to make statements or ask questions in the House and have had their travel privileges with the exception of riding business revoked.

Rafferty told Tbnewswatch.com in an earlier interview that the sanctions put on by the NDP were punishing Thunder Bay more than him.

“What it does is it makes my voice quiet,” Rafferty said after learning about the punishment. ““When you think about it I’m not really being punished because it lightens my workload. It’s sort of like telling a high school kid ‘you’ve been bad at school so we’re going to send you home.’ ”

Some people who spoke with Tbnewswatch on Saturday said they disagreed with how the party treated both Hyer and Rafferty because they were just looking out for their constituents.

Larry Samec said he’s glad that Hyer and Rafferty voted to end the registry despite warnings from their party.

“They are doing what the people want and they are getting punished for it? They’re a bunch of clowns up there,” Samec said. “I didn’t think the NDP would do that. They wouldn’t have done that if Jack Layton was there.”

Kathleen Woodbeck called the party’s treatment of the two MPs as “harsh”. She said their decision to stick to their guns made her look more favourably on them but not the party.

“I’m all for my politician representing their constituents,” Woodbeck said. “Good for them.”

Mike Samuelson said he wanted to get rid of the long-gun registry even though he wasn’t a hunter and was glad to hear that the MPs shared his feelings. While he admitted he didn’t know too much about politics, he said it would give him some pause if his election officials promised something and then didn’t deliver.

“It makes you wonder about the politicians,” Samuelson said. “Then again it’s always been like that with politicians. You always wonder about them.”