By the time you read this column there is a chance we may be celebrating the end of a long battle to end the Liberal hypocrisy that has plagued this country since Allan Rock unleashed his delusion on us well over a decade ago.

One can only be grateful the above quoted, two Liberal left-wing loonies are retired from politics and no longer inflicting their political will upon this country.

Had Rock and Axworthy managed to accomplish what they set out to do back in the 1990’s, we might today be living under something similar to communist rule, much like the People’s Republic of China where gun ownership outside of the military and police is forbidden.

And where research shows that the possession or sale of firearms results in a minimum punishment of three years imprisonment, with the maximum punishment being the death penalty.

Mind you current Canadian gun control laws already put Uncle George and his duck gun in fear of criminal prosecution for regulatory paperwork. So Rock-Worthy policy was already well on its way before it was uncovered the Grits had grown fat on pomposity and had turned to criminal acts because, well, they could—remember the Gomery Commission and the Liberal sponsorship scandal.

To this day law-abiding Canadian gun owners are still paying a price for the ridiculous mind-set of a political party whose leader is continuing on with that pomposity by ordering Liberal MPs to vote against Candice Hoeppner’s Bill C-391; a bill that would put an end to the noxious gun registry.

With fingers crossed, gun owners across this country are hoping Candice Hoeppner's Bill C-391 finally puts an end to the Liberal delusion of gun control.

Eight Liberal MPs voted in support of C-391 during second reading at the wishes of their constituents. Now they will most likely pander Ignatieff and toe the company line, voting against it—and their constituents—during third reading. I guess you need thick skin to wear Liberal red. 

However, our heroine Candice Hoeppner didn’t take this Liberal flip-flop lightly and sent letters to the constituents of the eight Liberal MPs Ignatieff put the screws to, hoping they will put even more pressure back on their expected-to-be, weak-kneed MPs.

Keith Martin, Liberal MP, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, B.C., has already donned a yellow stripe, confirming expectations. 

Hoeppner needs 155 votes for her bill to pass when it comes back to the House for final reading, which means all 144 Conservative MPs must vote in favour as well as 11 of Jack Layton’s New Democrat MPs, although with Layton anything is possible including a whipped vote as well.

Last reading 12 NDP MPs voted in favour of C-391 and it is hoped that with a free vote they will once again vote alongside the Conservatives as their constituents wish.

It is expected that Bill C-391 will return to the House for vote from the standing committee on public safety and national security sometime this month.

The standing committee on public safety and national security deals with all bills after second reading and according to the Practical Guide for Committees (9th edition): Committees are central to the operations of the House of Commons for at least three basic reasons:

• they allow for the detailed examination of complex matters which is more easily done in small groups rather than an entire assembly;
  
• they offer an opportunity for Members to hear from Canadians and experts on topics of national concern and to have these representations placed on the public record; and
  
• they provide a means for Members to probe into the details of policies and programs, thereby further developing an expertise in specific areas.
  

The committee hearings on C-391 are led by Liberal M.P. Mark Holland (Ajax-Pickering) and it appears as though the Liberals tried to stack the deck with witnesses allowed to appear, trying to limit the number of witnesses in support of C-391.

According to Hoeppner, “The Liberals, with the support of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, attempted to use their combined majority in the committee to ram through a pro-long-gun registry list of witnesses.

“Fairness at committee is apparently not a relevant topic for the Opposition,” wrote Hoeppner in an opinion piece published across the country.

The arrogance of the Liberal Party and its leader, Iffy... er, Iggy, doesn’t sit well with many rural and Western Canadians who have watched poll after poll call for an end to the registry.

But the Liberals seem bent on appeasing urban voters and extreme lobbyists like Wendy Cukier and the Coalition for Gun Control Canada, a subsidiary of the world’s largest gun control lobby group The International Action Network on Small Arms, or IANSA, who call for the “regulation of guns in civilian hands” or, said another way, complete civilian disarmament.

That the Grits would work to preserve its failed policies for an international lobby group is absurd if not ignorant and one must wonder who would be in charge of this country should the Grits ever win back a majority government, Canadians or international lobbyists? 

Here is hoping for a long awaited celebration and not another Liberal mockery of Canadian democracy. I hope I’m wrong, but the Liberal crave for power and the lunacy of Ignatieff ideology most likely means several more years of a failed gun registry.

Let’s hope not. ■

For previous Outdoor Pursuits click here.