Conservatives Win in Canada In Campaign Involving Guns
February 10, 2006
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
Americans as a rule don’t seem to pay much attention to elections in other nations, even our neighbor to the north. However, there is good reason for pro-gun activists to pay attention to the results of the Jan. 23 national election in Canada, and perhaps take a bit of comfort from it.
At Gun Week, here in Buffalo, NY, we’re right on the border with Canada’s most populous and traditionally Liberal province, Ontario, and we have easy access to Canadian television news.
Please note that Liberal in Canada is spelled with a capital “L” because it is the official name of the political party that has been in power for more than a dozen years. In December, as the election neared, the Liberals in Canada, led by Prime Minister Paul Martin, with the help of the Liberal mayor of Toronto—the country’s largest city—made guns and America bashing a key element in the election.
Passing over the stench of corruption in the Liberal government and other issues which troubled the country’s voters, Martin responded to concerns about a surge in violent gang-related homicides in Toronto by proposing to ban all handguns. At the same time, he blamed the US and our gun laws for causing the violence, particularly after a 15-year-old girl student was killed in the crossfire of two gangs on one of Toronto’s busiest commercial streets in December.
With all handguns in Canada registered and licensed under very strict laws for generations, even Canadians who think we have too many guns in America, figured Martin was blaming something else for the problems he helped to create.
Soft Liberals
The Liberals in Canada have been soft on crime and criminals for years, even under other prime ministers, such as Pierre Trudeau, to the extent that other parties accuse them of coddling criminals.
Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper, the major challenger to Martin, scoffed at the gun ban proposal and urged an anti-crime package that would focus on catching the criminals—largely profiting from a rich drug trade—and put them in prison for long periods of time.
The other parties—the New Democrats (NDP) and the Bloc Québécois—also tended toward more aggressive policy and stricter penalties.
Bear in mind that Canada, particularly with the Liberals in power, has been a key mover in the global gun control movement at the United Nations, and has been critical of President Bush’s foreign policies, opposing the War in Iraq but helping us in Afghanistan.
While US-Canadian relations under Martin have been cool, Harper made no bones about the fact that he would work more closely with Washington.
Given that background, it is not surprising that Michael Moore, the mockumen-tary producer of “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9-11, ” should bemoaned the prospect of a Conservative victory and a rightward political shift in Canada in Canada’s general election.
“Oh, Canada—you’re not really going to elect a Conservative majority on Monday (Jan. 23), are you? That’s a joke, right? I know you have a great sense of humor, . . . but this is no longer funny,” Moore complained in a commentary on his website.
“Elect a prime minister who’s for it. You declare gay people have equal rights—and then you elect a man who says they don’t,” Moore moaned.
Conservatives were ahead by 10 to 12 points in polls at the time Moore made his Internet appeal.
In “Bowling for Columbine,” Moore heads north to Canada to flee the rise of conservatism on US soil.
“A man running the nation to the south of you is hoping you can lend him a hand by picking Stephen Harper, because he’s a man who shares his world view. Do you want to help George Bush by turning Canada into his latest conquest?” Moore asked.
“Far be it from me, as an American, to suggest what you should do,” he added. “I hope you don’t feel this appeal of mine is too intrusive, but I just couldn’t sit by, as your friend, and say nothing.”
Well Moore picked wrong in the 2004 US presidential election when he campaigned against Bush’s reelection and sided with billionaire puppeteer George Soros in backing John Kerry. And he picked wrong in the Canadian election, too. Of course, to people like Moore and Soros, they are never wrong; it’s the rest of the world that’s going the wrong way, even if that means millions of voters in the US and Canada.
Election Returns
Well, it was shortly after the polls closed across Canada that their television networks were predicting the results, which were summarized thus by The Globe and Mail of Toronto.
“Canadians decided Monday to cautiously change the national government, giving Stephen Harper’s Conservatives a slim minority and tethering the other parties to a short leash in the new House.
“Pending recounts, the Conservatives won 124 seats to the Liberals’ 103. The Bloc Québécois won in 51 ridings and the NDP in 29.” One independent was elected.
The Conservative victory in Canada on Jan. 23 fell short of its goal. They will lead but the government they will form is a minority government; they will need to garner 31 additional votes from other parties to move their agenda in the 308-member House of Commons in Parliament. However, the Conservatives will form the cabinet and will be in charge of foreign policy, including relations with the US, for a little while. What this portends for the UN gun control debate and other matters of interest to Gun Week readers remains to be seen. For now, at least, the national ban on handguns seems to have been set aside.
Who knows? The Conservatives may even allow their customs and immigration agents to be armed. Our northern neighbor’s lax border control has been criticized in and out of Canada, particularly since 9-11. The union for the people who actually man the border has requested the right to be armed, but the Liberals refused. Now, we’ll see what the Conservatives do.
The Globe and Mail noted that the election results “suggest that the new government may be able to function for at least 18 months, the average life for minorities in Canada.
“The defeat of Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Liberals, and his announcement that he’s stepping down as leader, sets off a leadership race that will pre-occupy that party for months,” killing any appetite for forcing an early election, the newspaper continued.
Minor Parties
The New Democrats increased their standings in the House, but fell short of the numbers needed to hold a clear balance of power.
A tight confidence vote could be decided by the sole independent elected Monday, colorful former Quebec radio show host André Arthur, a federalist.
The Bloc lost seven seats and its share of the popular vote was reduced as the Conservatives picked up seats in Quebec, establishing the Tories as a second federalist option in the province.
The Conservative breakthrough in Quebec means that Canada now has two parties with MPs from all regions of the country for the first time since 1993.
In his victory speech in Calgary, The Globe and Mail reported that Harper reached out to the other parties and leaders. He said Canadians owed Martin thanks for his service to the country and he congratulated NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe for running “solid and honorable campaigns. . . . We are all democrats.”
Recognizing that his minority is slim, Harper said: “To those who did not vote for us, I pledge to work for all of us.”
But he made it clear he feels he has a sufficient mandate to pursue his core five planks of his platform: a federal accountability act to clean up government, cuts in the hated GST (general sales tax), tougher anti-crime measures, childcare credits, and reduced wait times for medical care. Return to Archive Index
