Issues: Gun registry

With Stephen Harper reaffirming his vow to scrap the long-gun registry Monday, most Thunder Bay-Superior North candidates say the issue is being used to divide Canadians.

“It detracts from the other things people want to talk about,” said Liberal candidate Yves Fricot, stating the issues he’s heard from people centre on jobs and strengthening the economy so people can take care of their families.

“The problem with the Conservative approach with this issue is it’s intended to be a wedge issue,” he said. “It divides Canadians. That’s not the approach I want to take in solving problems … I think the job of Parliamentarians is to find ways to reconcile differing opinions.”

Without compromises, Fricot said he would not support scrapping the gun registry.

“We’re proposing to decriminalize it so Stephen Harper can sleep at night,” he said. “We’re proposing to eliminate fees and to deal with the bureaucratic red tape that so frustrates people who go hunting.”

Incumbent MP and NDP candidate Bruce Hyer said Harper has had many years to accomplish scrapping the long-gun registry and could have done it by now if he really wanted.

“He uses this issue to drive wedges wherever he can, so I’m sure he’d love to raise it as an issue but whether he’ll really deal with it effectively and fairly is another matter,” he said.

The NDP’s position was to support keeping the gun registry the last time Parliament faced the matter, however, MPs were not whipped into voting with the party. Hyer continued to support scrapping the registry even as some Northern Ontario NDP members began changing their stance.

Hyer said he doesn’t plan on changing that stance, unless Parliament faces a different bill.

“If the bill differs by a word from the last bill, it could have big implications,” said Hyer. “The simple answer is if a fair bill that’s clear comes forward again to end the long-gun registry, I will again vote for it.”
 
However, Conservative candidate Richard Harvey said the party has steadfastly held to its position on scrapping the registry and he was pleased the prime minister reaffirmed his position on the issue.
 
Harvey said he believes only a Conservative-led majority government can finally kill the long-gun registry.

“It is the long-gun registry that is targeting hunters, trappers, especially people up in areas like ours where a lot of people live off the land,” he said. “This is such a bone of contention…If we have a majority government and we can get those votes, we will scrap the registry.

“As I’m out knocking on doors, as I’m talking to people in our riding, what I’m hearing almost unanimously, people are saying scrap the long-gun registry,” he added.

Meanwhile, Green Party candidate Scot Kyle is agreeing with his Liberal and NDP counterparts, saying he too believes Harper’s strategy to scrap the registry is a smokescreen against doing the real job of governing the country.

With the registry already in place and most law-abiding citizens already having their firearms registered, Kyle said he has no problem with the registry remaining in place.

“It would no doubt cost money to even scrap it,” he said. “I would have to say the gun registry should probably stay where it is.”