An aide to a Conservative MP is apparently looking for work today after a press release from his boss that said support for the federal gun registry is like a cult led by police chiefs who pretend it assists with law enforcement.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff stood in Question Period on Wednesday to demand that Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologize to Canada’s police chiefs and condemn the “disgraceful remark” contained in the release issued Tuesday by the office of Garry Breitkreuz.
Mr. Harper replied that Mr. Breitkreuz “immediately said that those remarks were not acceptable. He apologized for them. In fact, the staffer in question has actually resigned.”
That wasn’t good enough for Mr. Ignatieff, who previously said he would insist that all members of his caucus vote against a Conservative private member’s bill to scrap the registry. “I asked him whether he would stand in this place on behalf of the government and condemn remarks which every Member of Parliament must regard as disgraceful. Will he condemn them and apologize, yes or no?”
Mr. Harper repeated that Mr. Breitkreuz had already apologized. “What we do not accept is the Leader of the Liberal Party trying to force a policy on members of this House that he, himself, knows is wrong, that he, himself, has flip-flopped on,” the Prime Minister said. “The long-gun registry is wasteful and ineffective, and we are going to work to get it abolished.”
In the release, Mr. Breitkreuz is quoted as saying: “The opposition continues to claim that the registry can somehow stop criminals from using guns. They say that laying a piece of paper beside a gun saves lives. It’s preposterous and counterintuitive, but they’ve said it often enough that they’re beginning to believe it themselves. It’s like a cult that is led by organizations of police chiefs who pretend the registry helps them do their jobs. They should be ashamed.”
After the first questions from Mr. Ignatieff, the Liberals introduced a new phrase into parliamentary banter – the Conservative culture of deceit.
Toronto MP Bob Rae opened the attack by asking why government documents were being withheld from the Military Police Complaints Commission. “How does the [Justice] Minister explain this Conservative culture of deceit?”
Anita Neville, a Liberal MP from Winnipeg, asked about allegations that former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer had lobbied government officials on behalf of his environmental company without being registered as a lobbyist. “Only within a Conservative culture of deceit can a government think that is acceptable.”
And Domininic Leblanc, a Liberal MP from New Brunswick, asked why Mr. Jaffer was permitted to submit proposals to a Conservative staff member. “How can these events be acceptable anywhere other than in a Conservative culture of deceit?”
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on April 21, 2010.
Phrases like this come and go. The Conservatives liked to use “just visiting” to describe Mr. Ignatieff and “a tax on everything” when talking about the carbon-tax proposal of former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion.
As a reporter colleague from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald points out, this new jargon sounds much like the “culture of defeat,” words used many years ago by Mr. Harper to describe Atlantic Canada. We will see if it lasts more than a day.
Like Ms. Neville and Mr. Leblanc, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe wanted to know about the activities of Mr. Jaffer. He wanted to know why, when he had asked previously about Mr. Jaffer’s alleged lobbying, the Prime Minister had responded that Mr. Jaffer had not obtained a contract. That was a “surprising statement” said Mr. Duceppe who demanded to know if Mr. Jaffer had lobbied members of cabinet.
Mr. Harper replied that there is legislation in effect with respect to lobbying and his government respects that legislation. And then he repeated that “there was no government contract in this business.”
When it was time for the NDP to ask questions, Leader Jack Layton wanted to know why the government approved the takeover of Grant Forest Products by Georgia-Pacific, an American pulp and paper giant.
“Georgia-Pacific already started firing staff before the government gave approval for the takeover. The Timmins mill is closed. The Calgary operation is shut down,” said Mr. Layton. “Can the Prime Minister tell us how this takeover could possibly be to the net benefit of Canada?
Mr. Harper responded that the Timmins mill has been closed for four years. But in this case, he added, “there is a commitment to retain staffing levels. I am also told that in fact all unionized staff have received offers of employment.”
