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MP Hoeppner challenges 12 NDP members: Are you waffling on your support to end the Long-Gun Registry? 08/11/10
Candice Hoeppner Calls on MPs to Declare their Voting Intentions on Bill C-391
Ottawa, ON - Portage-Lisgar MP Candice Hoeppner challenged Members of Parliament in the NDP Caucus to respond to suggestions by NDP Justice Critic Joe Comartin that some NDP Members who earlier supported ending the long-gun registry may now be changing their minds.
"Last week, Mr. Comartin said that a number of NDP Members who supported my bill to end the long-gun registry last November 'are vacillating. and considering changing their votes,'" said Hoeppner. "I am asking these 12 Members of Parliament: Is this true? And when are you going to tell your constituents how you will vote when my bill returns to the House of Commons in September?"
In an article that appeared last week in the Miramichi Leader, Comartin remarked that MPs in the NDP caucus are looking with serious concern at Bill C-391. He also suggested that amendments proposed by Michael Ignatieff this spring "may be enough to entice some of them back," referring to his NDP colleagues.
"Some of my NDP colleagues have stated publicly that they will continue to support my legislation when Bill C-391 returns to the House on September 22nd, and I commend them," Hoeppner continued. "However, a majority of the 12 NDP Members have remained silent on the issue. In light of Mr. Comartin's comments, I'm asking, where do these NDP MPs stand? They need to step up and indicate to the people who elected them whether they are prepared to stay the course and finish the job to end the long-gun registry."
When Hoeppner's private Member's bill (C-391)to end the long gun registry passed Second Reading in the House of Commons last November, 12 NDP Members voted in support of the bill, including Niki Ashton (Churchill), Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay), Malcolm Allen (Welland), John Rafferty (Thunder Bay-Rainy River), Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore), Dennis Bevington (Western Arctic), Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley), Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay-Superior North), Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury), Jim Maloway (Elmwood-Transcona), Carol Hughes (Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing) and Claude Gravelle (Nickel Belt).
A motion calling for Hoeppner's bill to be defeated is scheduled to take place in the House of Commons on September 22nd.
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