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Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff speaks with reporters after his morning caucus meeting on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, in Ottawa.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 1:38 PM

Ignatieff won't force MPs to back gun registry

Jane Taber

As many as six Liberal MPs will vote with the Conservatives today to kill the long-gun registry and Michael Ignatieff is doing nothing to stop them.

Never mind that the Liberals created the registry at a big political cost. Mr. Ignatieff is arguing that because this is a private member’s bill, his MPs can vote their conscience. More likely, however, he knows he can’t control his caucus on this very tricky issue, one that does not sell in rural communities.

Some Liberal MPs, meanwhile, are not happy with Mr. Ignatieff’s refusal to show strength, believing that on important private member’s votes, such as this one, the leader must take a stand.

The registry came into effect in January of 2001. The Liberals lost votes and seats in the 2000 and 2004 election campaigns; the Tories have remained strongly opposed to it.

Today’s bill was tabled by Manitoba Tory MP Candace Hoeppner. She believes she is close to winning the vote. The Tories have been working hard in opposition ridings, trying to convince voters to push their MPs to support the legislation.

Ms. Hoeppner needs between nine and 12 opposition MPs to win. It is expected that some NDP MPs will also side with the Tories. And it appears the Bloc is whipping its vote.

After caucus today, Mr. Ignatieff said he supports the long-gun registry, “Yes, yes”, he said, adding that it was also important to create a system that works in all parts of the country.

“All members of our party support the principle of gun control. The issue is to find a system of gun control that works for all Canadians, that works in rural Canada, that works in urban Canada,” Mr. Ignatieff said.

He said the Liberals are working on that but he wouldn’t say how or with what.

And he also explained why he wasn’t whipping the vote: “I respect the democratic rights of members. I’ve got a caucus that has a very strong and passionate commitment to gun control."

Instead, he accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of using this bill for “no other purpose than to cause mischief with the other parties.”

“And the issue is that the Conservative Party is using this as wedge issue. They have no respect for the issue of public safety.”

When in doubt, blame the other guy.

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Ottawa Notebook Contributors

Jane Taber, senior political writer

Jane Taber

Jane Taber has been on Parliament Hill since the Mulroney days, first writing for the Ottawa Citizen in 1986. Since then, she's reported for a small television network, WTN, and for the National Post before joining The Globe’s parliamentary bureau in 2002. She is the senior political writer and also co-host of Question Period, which airs Sundays on CTV.

 
John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson started at The Globe in 1999 and has been Queen's Park columnist and Ottawa political affairs correspondent. Most recently, he was a correspondent and columnist in Washington, where he wrote Open and Shut: Why America has Barack Obama and Canada has Stephen Harper. He returned to Ottawa as bureau chief in 2009. Before joining The Globe, he worked as a reporter, columnist and Queen’s Park correspondent for Southam papers.

 

Steven Chase

Steven Chase has covered federal politics in Ottawa for The Globe since mid-2001. He's previously worked in the paper's Vancouver and Calgary bureaus. Prior to that, he reported on Alberta politics for the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and on national issues for Alberta Report. He's had ink-stained hands for far longer though, having worked as a paperboy for the (now defunct) Montreal Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Vancouver Sun and the North Shore News.

 
Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark has been a political writer in The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau since 2000. Before that he worked for The Montreal Gazette and the National Post. He writes about Canadian politics and foreign policy. He stopped being fascinated by ShamWow commercials after that guy’s nasty incident in Florida, but still wonders if one can really pull a truck with that Mighty Putty stuff.

 

Bill Curry

A member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1999, Bill Curry worked for The Hill Times and the National Post prior to joining The Globe in Feb. 2005. Originally from North Bay, Ont., Bill reports on a wide range of topics on Parliament Hill. He is very protective of the office’s brand new copy of O’Brien & Bosc, the latest Parliamentary rule book.

 

Gloria Galloway

Gloria Galloway has been a journalist for almost 30 years. She worked at the Windsor Star, the Hamilton Spectator, the National Post, the Canadian Press and a number of small newspapers before being hired by The Globe and Mail as deputy national editor in 2001. Gloria returned to reporting two years later and joined the Ottawa bureau in 2004. She has covered every federal election since 1997 and has done several stints in Afghanistan.

 

Daniel Leblanc

Daniel Leblanc studied political science at the University of Ottawa and journalism at Carleton University. He became a full-time reporter in 1998, first at the Ottawa Citizen and then in the Ottawa bureau of The Globe and Mail. While he likes the occasional brown envelope, he is also open to anonymous emails.

 

Stephen Wicary

Stephen Wicary has been with The Globe since 2001, working on the news desk as a copy editor, page designer, production editor and front page editor. During the U.S invasion of Iraq, he pulled a three-month stint as overnight editor of the website. He moved to the parliamentary bureau at the end of 2008 to bolster online political coverage.