Friday, November 6, 2009 2:31 PM
Van Loan misfires, Duffy fakes
Jane Taber
Not: Peter Van Loan. What a coincidence that the Public Safety Minister releases an RCMP report on the effectiveness of the long-gun registry just two days after MPs – led by the Tories – vote to abolish it. And should we be surprised that the document, the 2008 annual report of the Commissioner of Firearms, is favourable to the effectiveness of the long-gun registry, which Mr. Van Loan has argued must be abolished because it is a waste of money and is simply there to harass law-abiding farmers?
Even before the report was released, Mr. Van Loan tried to explain to reporters – it was a very aggressive scrum that he found himself in yesterday – that the report didn’t tell the whole story. He says that although the police accessed it 3.5 million times last year (impressive and useful, no?), only 2.4 per cent of the time was it accessed for information on long-guns.
“If the bill to eliminate the long-gun registry is passed and becomes law, 97 per cent of the times that the police utilize that information from the firearms centre would continue to be in place because, of course, the bill does not eliminate the requirement for licensing of gun owners and only,” he said.
Hot: Glen Pearson. The usually soft-spoken Liberal MP from London, Ont., is anything but – at least in print. On his blog, he jumps to the defence of his NDP colleague, Peter Stoffer, who was engaged in a rather nasty exchange last night on CBC with Conservative Senator Mike Duffy.
The former broadcaster and PEI Senator referred to Mr. Stoffer as a “fake,” an actor and someone who doesn’t support the military. The Senator is upset with an analysis by Mr. Stoffer of the cost to taxpayers of the 27 new senators appointed by Stephen Harper. In his analysis, he also takes aim at Senator Duffy’s expenses.
Mr. Pearson characterized the interview as “sickening.” He writes that he was “not only sad but embarrassed” when he watched it. “I haven’t held out a lot of hope for civility in the House of Commons, but I never expected this,” he writes, noting that Mr. Stoffer is an MP known for working in non-partisan fashion.
“I was especially irked when Duffy called Stoffer a faker, who pretends to support Canadian troops but votes against funding allocations for them. Let’s be clear. There is no member of the House of Commons who is behind our men and women in uniform more than Peter Stoffer.”
As for Senator Duffy, Mr. Pearson refers to him as “fake” in a tuxedo. Indeed, the Senator appeared on the CBC broadcast in his tux, explaining he was on his way to a black-tie dinner in Charlottetown. Mr. Pearson said that Mr. Duffy used to mock the Senate when he was a journalist. “Mike Duffy railed against the Senate as a place of unelected stooges while a media commentator but then took an unelected appointment to the place the moment it was offered. Of the two, I can guarantee you that Peter Stoffer is not a fake.”
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Update A former friend of Mr. Duffy's, columnist Don Martin, is now a foe. In a piece headlined "Mike Duffy jumps the shark," Mr. Martin explains his reluctant change of heart:
It's not easy for me to write this because Mike Duffy was a personal friend until I derided his appointment to the Senate, but Thursday's antics have cost him any lingering credibility.
Many senators are decent types trying to make intelligent and constructive contributions to public policy.
But Mike Duffy's only value has become that of poster boy for why the Senate needs, at very least, major reform if not outright abolition.
