Fourth NDP MP changes vote on long gun registry

The Toronto Star:

Regina, Saskatchewan — A Conservative backlash is driving more New Democrats MPs into the pro-gun registry camp, the Toronto Star has learned.

Welland MP Malcolm Allen confirmed Monday at the NDP’s caucus retreat in Regina that he will be reversing his earlier support for a Conservative private member's bill to scrap the controversial program

“The majority (of people in his riding) … have said ‘we think at this point we should keep it and we want you to go work on it,’” Allen told the Star.

This about-face comes as the Conservative Party launched a national advertising campaign designed to put pressure on opposition MPs, who earlier supported Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner’s bill.

It was the campaign, said Allen, that made him decide to come out now and “say this is where I stand … to make sure Ms Hoeppner’s bill doesn’t go any further.”

The vote on Sept. 22 is expected to be so close that Allen’s decision to vote against the Conservative initiative could be the deciding factor in saving the 10-year-old registry.

“Ultimately if it boils down to my vote making the difference then it was the wishes of my constituents,” Allen said, who joins three other NDP MPs who earlier announced they would change their votes.

MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) said there is a growing feeling among the 37-member caucus that the NDP can’t be seen to be siding with the government in its attempt to use the registry as a political wedge pitting urban voters against rural voters.

“Guns are part of our life but they certainly don’t define our lives,” said Angus, who too has chosen to abandon his support for Hoeppner’s bill.

“We do not want to be standing beside these guys (Conservatives) at the end of the day because they do not represent anything progressive for Canada. And they certainly don’t represent rural Canadians,” Angus told reporters.

The Conservatives are putting a lot of pressure on the 12 NDP members who supported Hoeppner’s bill on first and second reading, but some of those MPs are now saying they were sick of the over-the-top criticism of anyone who supports the gun registry, including Canada’s police chiefs.

Angus said the Conservatives have had since 2006 to bring in a law to keep its promise to kill the registry but says it has been more useful for the government to use it as a wedge issue than keep the promise.