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http://www.nationalpost.com/national/story.html?id=8AB354C1-DA6A-47EE-9023-EC8B78ACB77A
http://www.nationalpost.com/national/story.html?id=8AB354C1-DA6A-47EE-9023-EC8B78ACB77A
Vote against gun registry at own risk, PM warns MPs
$59M spending request: Chrétien threatens to expel MPs who oppose funding
Bill Curry
National Post, with files from The Canadian Press
Thursday, March 20, 2003
OTTAWA - Jean Chrétien warned Liberal MPs yesterday they could be expelled from caucus if they vote against a bill next week that would give another $59-million to the controversial national firearms program.
In the weekly closed-door caucus meeting, the Prime Minister told MPs he considers the vote a matter of confidence in his government, meaning a loss could trigger a federal election.
Mr. Chrétien did not spell out specific consequences for those who vote against the government, but Liberal Whip Marlene Catterall told reporters such MPs could be kicked out of caucus.
"I think that when Canadians elect a Liberal government, they expect us to fulfill the policies on which we ran, and that means that those people who ran on those policies and supported the gun registry in two elections are expected to support it," she said.
One Liberal MP also said officials from the Prime Minister's Office reminded some dissidents an MP who is kicked out of caucus will not be able to run as a Liberal if there is a snap election.
In December, MPs unanimously rejected a $72-million request for the program. The government had said that vote would be a matter of confidence, but changed its mind before the vote.
Some Liberal MPs criticized the Prime Minister yesterday for making the new vote a matter of confidence, arguing it reinforces the notion MPs are only "rubber stamps" unable to influence the workings of government.
Dan McTeague, an outspoken Liberal MP who supports the gun registry, nonetheless disagreed with the government's expulsion threat.
"We know that there has been that heavy hand used in the past. I know there's a lot of people in my region in Toronto who are still miffed at the expulsion of [John] Nunziata," he said. "It's nice to say we campaigned on these things once, twice, three times ... but I don't think this will leave a very good taste in the mouths of Canadians if they know their Members of Parliament are subjected to that kind of response."
The expulsion of long-time Liberal MP John Nunziata in 1997 for voting against the government over the GST is the only occasion when Mr. Chrétien has used his power to kick an MP out of his caucus for opposing the government. Over the past year, dozens of Liberal MPs have voted against the government without consequence.
Central Ontario MP Paul Steckle said he will vote against the government on Tuesday, but expressed frustration with the way the government is interpreting the backbench dissent. Mr. Steckle argued his vote will be a show of non-confidence in Martin Cauchon, the Justice Minister, for mishandling the file, not in the Liberal government. Mr. Steckle also predicted his Liberal colleagues are in for a rough ride at home should they approve the $59-million request.
"Obviously when you're among your family of colleagues it's pretty easy to stand together, but it's when you have to go back home and face the electorate on a one-to-one basis and when you get called to a meeting where there's maybe 400 people and they take a different view than you do, it's pretty hard to win elections when the people are against you in a crowd like that," he said.
Following yesterday's caucus meeting, Mr. Cauchon held an open briefing for Liberal MPs on improvements the government is making to the program. The meeting won over some MPs, including Julian Reed of Halton, Ont., who was one of the six MPs who met this week with Wayne Easter, the Solicitor-General, to express concerns with the program.
"I feel that gun control is still valid and that we should forge ahead and make it work," Mr. Reed said. "We can correct the deficiencies, I think."
Northern Ontario MP Ben Serré, who has opposed the gun registry since it was proposed in 1995, said the program will go ahead and his colleagues will approve the funding request on Tuesday.
"I would suspect a few [MPs] will be absent, a few will vote against and the bill will be passed," he said. "I'm still against it. I still think it's a billion-dollar boondoggle. The policy of gun control per se is not wrong, but we had the wrong approach, we had the wrong people running it and the registry itself is a non-starter. It's not going to accomplish anything."
The showdown came after a half-dozen dissidents circulated a letter this week urging their colleagues to challenge the "moral bankruptcy and failure of the Minister of Justice" by voting against the spending request.
The letter was signed by MPs Roger Gallaway and Joe Comuzzi of Ontario and John Efford and Lawrence O'Brien of Newfoundland. They were joined by Senators Anne Cools and Herb Sparrow.
None of the six spoke up at yesterday's meeting, colleagues said.
But two others who did not sign the letter -- Mr. Steckle and his fellow Ontario MP Rose-Marie Ur -- took the floor to voice passionate opposition to continued funding for the registry.
The registry has been under attack since December, when Sheila Fraser, the Auditor-General, delivered a damning report on cost overruns in the program.
She estimated it will end up costing taxpayers $1-billion by the time it concludes its first decade in operation in 2005. The original estimate when the registry was established in 1995 was $2-million.
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