Facing attack from all sides, the NDP decided it’s had enough. On a day when the Liberals came out with a particularly smart-assed press release that toyed with all the bogus arguments against the long-gun registry (“Criminals won’t register their dogs anyway, so what’s the point?” or “The car registration scheme in this country costs millions a year and does nothing to prevent road accidents!” as two examples), the NDP came out swinging with not one, but two releases of its own.
So how did they hit back? By talking about the looming transition from analogue to digital TV and how Harper is failing northern Canadians. Way to deal with the issue at hand, guys. Layton, meanwhile, is on his own tour of the North with his MP Dennis Bevington, who has said he’ll vote to scrap the registry – a registry that Layton says he supports. Huh.
Of course, some NDP people are suggesting that MPs like Bevington may just catch the “diplomatic flu” and stay away from the vote, allowing it to survive without actually voting to scrap it. But considering how they’ve been castigating the Liberals for allowing Conservative legislation to pass, that could prove to be a tough pill to swallow.
Elsewhere, one has to wonder who is fighting the bigger straw man – Bloc Québécois MP Carole Lavallée (normally dubbed the “voice of reason”) for calling a program that allows grade eight students to visit national parks for free “federalist propaganda” – or Harper trying to once again bring up the spectre of a coalition in an election that last I checked still hadn’t been called. Because right now, both seem to be fighting bogeymen.
G20 detainees in Toronto are launching a class action suit seeking some $115 million in various damages.
Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page says that while he will continue to push for the legislative changes that will make his office an independent officer of Parliament, he won’t be seeking a second mandate when his term is up in 2013. Of course, with the track record of other watchdogs under this government, he may be lucky if he lasts that long.
And finally, Paul Wells calls out this government’s inconsistencies – funding maternal health programs that include access to safe abortions (which has the pro-life groups up in arms while the government spins into overdrive), and meeting with former members of Palestinian organizations listed as terrorist groups. Funny that.
Why you can trust Xtra
