After a heavy lobbying effort, including a Tory-backed radio ad campaign targeting vulnerable opposition ridings, the bill's sponsor, MP Candice Hoeppner (Portage-Lisgar), says she is confident at least eight NDP and Liberal MPs will vote to get rid of the law that requires rifles and shotguns to be registered. That's because Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton, who personally pledged to vote against the bill, will allow their MPs to vote freely on the issue, citing their respective parties' "tradition" of free votes on private members' business (emphasis mine).It's too bad for Bev Desjarlais that the same sex marriage free vote was on a government bill, rather than on a private member's bill, isn't it? Playing word games doesn't make this betrayal of urban voters any less odious, Jack. I call bullshit on you. Recommend this Post
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Word Games. Courtesy Of Jack Layton
Tonda MacCharles reports today in the Star:
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I'm just not willing to let Stephen Harper make the NDP the meat in the Conservative sandwich. No need to victimize ourselves by falling for his squeeze play. I'm afraid that's what you're doing here Greg, which is unfortunate because you usually call bullshit on that instead.
ReplyDeleteThe NDP can't claim to on the one hand support the registry and on the other allow its members to vote against the registry. That "reasoning" is positively Dionesque. If the NDP doesn't stand for anything, it might as well give up and join the Liberal Party.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why they can't do that. Keep in mind, after, that the NDP's favourite activity is disagreeing with itself. The central group in the party, including Layton, agree with the registry. Many NDP MPs do not. There's no contradiction here, only sincere disagreement.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that the MPs who voted against the registry are right (nor the other way around). But they're not insincere or somehow not faithful to NDP principles or some such.