Thunder Bay’s two NDP MPs took a bullet when they voted to scrap the long-gun registry and they may have to do so again.
Newly elected NDP leader Tom Mulcair told a Quebec radio station over the weekend that scrapping the long-gun registry was an error and during the next election MPs should toe the party line.
The registry was killed last month when the majority Conservative party voted to end it.
MPs John Rafferty (Thunder Bay – Rainy River) and Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay – Superior North) voted to get rid of the registry against party wishes and received sanctions for their actions.
Mulcair removed those sanctions when he was voted in.
Mulcair made a comment about if the NDP are divided then Canadians are divided and that was something he didn’t want.
Rafferty said Mulcair’s comments were dicey and they haven’t had an in depth discussion about the long-gun registry before. But at the end of the day, Rafferty said he wasn’t worried.
“I’ve been very clear from the beginning that my first job is to represent my constituents,” Rafferty said.
“Making the assumption that the vast majority of my constituents still feel the same way about the long-gun registry I would absolutely support my constituents.”
“Mulcair was talking about if (the long-gun registry) was going to be part of our platform. I was aware of his personal feelings on the issue but he was quiet clear that it was an if and it was a big if. Three years is a long time yet and I’m sure there will be lots of discussions.”
Unlike the Liberal party that implemented the registry, Rafferty said this time they will talk to Canadians and collect input on what they think will be best.
Most people that Rafferty has spoken to say they don’t have an issue with firearm legislation such as the storage of weapons.
He said there needed to be a national dialogue on firearms and input legislation that reflects the values of Canadians. The biggest problem he saw in the registry was that Canadians weren’t consulted on it.
“We have time in the majority government to find out what people have to say,” he said.
“I would be certainly interested to be a part of a team that went across the country and listen to Canadians. I believe listening to Canadians is the right way to go for any new firearm legislation or if any are changed.”
Hyer said his boss is his constituents.
“I will do whatever I feel is best for my riding and for Canada,” Hyer said. “I will make that decision on my own and I will be directed by no one else except my constituents. I know who I work for and I wish more parliamentarians worked for their constituents.”
While he said he would go up to bat for his riding, Hyer added that everything right now is hypothetical and a change to a single word in a piece of legislation can transform it tremendously. He said there’s no way to know what kind of legislation will come forward and he didn’t want to prejudge anything that hasn’t come forward.
But he said it’s been clear to him that the majority of his constituents want.
“I will analyze any piece of legislation or proposed piece of legislation against what my constituents want and then decide what will be the best course of action,” he said.
