For Immediate Release November 6, 2009
Conservatives Force Key Members of the Opposition to Support the Repeal of the Long-Gun Registry
Ottawa- This week, the House of Commons held an important second reading vote on Bill C-391, a Private Member’s Bill to repeal the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry. The majority of Members of Parliament voted in support of the Bill which will now be passed on to committee for further study.
Ed Komarnicki, Member of Parliament for Souris-Moose Mountain, released the following statement with respect to the vote:
“The second reading vote on Bill C-391 was a significant step in the right direction to repeal the long-gun registry. The opposition members were finally forced to stand up and take a position.
“Every member of the Conservative Government was in the House and every single Conservative Member of Parliament stood up in support of the Bill delivering on our government’s long-standing commitment to Canadians to do away with the long-gun registry once and for all. While there is still much work to be done before the legislation comes into force, the vote is a major win for law-abiding farmers, hunters and rural Canadians as a whole.”
The opposition complained of American style politics in the weeks preceding the vote where opposition rural MPs were targeted in a coordinated campaign designed to get them onboard.
The November 4th vote on Bill C-391 had 164 Members of Parliament vote in support of the Bill and 137 opposed. In addition to the support of the Conservative Members of Parliament, several members of the opposition parties voted in favour of the Bill even though the NDP and Liberal leaders along with many of their members voted to continue the existence of the long-gun registry.
The legislation will now proceed to committee for further study and still needs to pass third reading in the House of Commons and then must go through a similar process in the Senate which now has an increased number of Conservative Senators.
“By the time the Bill hits the Senate I trust that there will be even more Conservatives there that will help see this Bill through,” said Komarnicki.
