From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V9 #9 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, January 23 2006 Volume 09 : Number 009 In this issue: [COLUMN] Canadian values & the Liberal record Letter to National Post (unpub) Hidden NDP Firearms Agenda Grit leaders privately concede defeat Liberal government is mailing $250 energy rebate cheques to [Fwd: Exile] - Sent to MP Don Lindsay House party shooting injures three people No suspects in T.O. basketball game shooting CFGC Government Contracts and Expenses Ammunition records Gun owners take aim at Liberal platform Large western Nova Scotia riding going to be under the ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 14:24:52 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: [COLUMN] Canadian values & the Liberal record http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2006/01/21/1405353.html Canadian values & the Liberal record By Tom Brodbeck Sun, January 22, 2006 Values. Canadian values. It's a term we've heard a lot of during this federal election campaign. It seems every political party has a platform that is more in tune with "Canadian values" than their competitors. Especially the Liberal platform which -- according to party leader Paul Martin -- is much more reflective of Canadian values than the other guys. Of course, there is no such thing as "Canadian values." There is no set of universally held principles, standards and beliefs on issues that Canadians consider most important. There are some commonly held beliefs and principles and pockets of shared "values" throughout Canada. But let's face it, Canada is a very diverse country -- culturally, religiously, politically and economically. We part company on many thorny issues. Take same-sex marriage. There are strongly held values in favour of calling gay unions "marriage." Some people see it as a human right. But not everyone. There's a large segment of mainstream Canada that do not see it as a human right or any right at all. Their values dictate that marriage is the exclusive domain of a man and a woman. So there's no such thing as being in touch with the "values of Canadians" on same-sex marriage. It's the same with abortion, immigration laws, aboriginal issues, welfare, global trade, just to name a few. Canadians have very diverse values in these areas. What's funny about the Liberals, though, is that they've been very much out of touch with some of the more commonly held values in Canada. For example, if there's one thing Canadians have in common is that they expect their governments to abide by the law. Canadians may disagree on policy. But most of us want our governments to operate ethically and legally. When the very people who make the laws break the laws, we get lawlessness. We don't like lawlessness. We strive for order. It's certainly one value you could call a "Canadian value" -- no different than in most other democracies. So when a government, like the Liberal government, cooks up an elaborate kick-back scheme to defraud taxpayers of hundreds of million of dollars - -- like the kind we saw in the sponsorship scandal -- it goes against the "values" of Canadians. Criminal justice would be another area where there are a lot of commonly held values in Canada. I don't know many people who think giving house arrest to violent criminals, including repeat offenders, is consistent with their values. Most Canadians believe violent criminals and those who commit serious crimes should be held accountable for their actions. And that usually includes a period of incarceration that is proportionate to the seriousness of the crime. The Liberals have abandoned that value. Through the enactment of conditional sentences, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other federal policies, the government has instructed the courts to minimize the use of incarceration in sentencing. As a result, rapists, killers and drunk drivers who kill often get off scot-free. It's hardly consistent with any Canadian values I know of. Health care is another good example. Most Canadians value our universal health care system. They don't necessarily like it administered as a government monopoly (as public opinion polls are now showing). But I'd say it's a Canadian value to ensure that everyone, regardless of income, can access a doctor and a hospital. Yet, the Liberals gutted funding for health care over several years in the mid- and late-1990s. They did so while they had money for new, discretionary initiatives like the sponsorship program and the gun registry. The cuts caused great harm to provincial health care programs and universal health coverage was compromised. Talk about being out of touch with "Canadian values." I remember former Ontario premier Mike Harris use to call on the Liberals to at least give the provinces what Brian Mulroney used to give them for health care. "We want the Brian Mulroney deal," he used to say. Under the Liberals, health-care funding fell below the level it was in the late 1980s. If you're looking for a political party that reflects any semblance of your "Canadian values" -- however you interpret that term -- the Liberals are probably not for you. Unless you like corruption in government, slap-on-the-wrist treatment of violent offenders and a spotty commitment to universal health care, that is. If you do, then Paul Martin's the man for you. If not, there are about six or seven other parties out there to consider. Think about it. Tom Brodbeck is the Sun's city columnist. He can be reached by e-mail at: tbrodbeck@wpgsun.com. Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@wpgsun.com. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 14:26:14 -0600 (CST) From: "Robert S. Sciuk" Subject: Letter to National Post (unpub) Goodbye and Good riddance ... (fwd) Dear Sir/Madame, Andrew Coyne's unflattering, if not all together innacurate depiction of Paul Martin puts me in mind of the "Faustian bargain". That Mr. Martin had yearned for the big hat since sitting on his father's knee is well documented. It remains well nigh impossible when asking the Djin for that one ultimate wish, to be specific enough not to have it come true -- after a fashion. In contrast, Mr. Chretien's departure appears as mild farce to Mr. Martin's dark tragedy. Mr. Martin rose to the top of the Liberal party through his rough machinations of the Party nomination process, and selling party memberships. He did indeed become an elected Prime Minister, albeit to a minority government, and who can say what story the polls will tell on Monday. In achieving his political ends, he has had to walk away from every one of his principles that had wowed Canadians during his tenure as finance Minister. While there are many Canadians who truly believe that Mr. Martin did not deserve such a political fate, there are as many and more who do. Resorting to a desperate negative campaign, and speaking to the "values" which he has had to desert along the way it seems that Mr. Martin himself is to blame for the Jekyllian transformation that we see today. Still, all is not lost, and Mr. Martin will forever be enshrined as a Canadian parable for the once well intended politician met with deus ex machina. Sincerely, Robert S. Sciuk Oshawa, Ont. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 14:27:35 -0600 (CST) From: "Lex Winram" Subject: Hidden NDP Firearms Agenda Rick Lowe wrote: "These union headquarters are putting considerable effort into ensuring their members don't hear about what Layton's version of gun control is. I have written over a 100 senior union officers in this province and have yet to receive even a basic acknowledgement of my email." I for one got hold of the "Levigne statement" on NDP policy to relieve us of our semi-automatics right after watching him on CPAC and took steps to ensure that at least in Selkirk-Interlake constituency where Ed Schreyer is running for the NDP against the Conservative incumbent James Bezan (who supports us gun-owners unequivocally), that Schreyer gets asked "the question" in public. Schreyer has now been asked but of course keeps fudged his answer.(Anybody remember "The Best Little Chicken Ranch in Texas"?) I do like to think I helped to hurt him though and in any case I doubt very much if he has any chance of winning. Anybody in a similar constituency is hopefully doing anything he/she can to get the truth out about the NDP policy of extending the "handgun ban" to include semi-automatic and perhaps pump long guns???? Lex Winram ("Praying for Relief on Monday") ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 14:46:19 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Grit leaders privately concede defeat http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Election/2006/01/22/1405759-sun.html Grit leaders privately concede defeat By STEPHANIE RUBEC, OTTAWA BUREAU Sun, January 22, 2006 BRAMPTON -- Liberal volunteers, organizers and MPs are admitting certain defeat tomorrow night at the hands of Stephen Harper's Conservatives -- barring an 11th hour change-of-heart by Canadian voters. As Grit troops fan across Canada this weekend in a last-ditch effort to turn the tide, they're weighed down by polls that show the Conservatives remain in the lead and have gained ground in vote-rich Quebec. Most Grits publicly insist there's still a chance leader Paul Martin will "pull a rabbit out of the hat" and bring home a second Liberal minority government, but privately they admit that they've lost faith. "I wish we were going to win but we are going to lose," said a long-time Liberal organizer working in Toronto who has booked a vacation to a sun destination next week to boost his spirits. When asked when he threw in the towel, the veteran Grit said "when we had no time left to rebound in the polls." The latest surveys have seen the Conservatives lead narrow slightly, but continue to show Harper winning the election and forming a minority government. Liberals say they've run out of time to convince Canadians to turn their back on Harper and shun NDP leader Jack Layton. An MP of 18 years said there's little hope the tide will swing in his party's favour by tomorrow, but he's convinced he'll win his Toronto-area seat. "I will be enjoying my time in opposition," the MP said. "Been there before and had fun. I will have fun again." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 14:51:40 -0600 (CST) From: Christopher di Armani Subject: Liberal government is mailing $250 energy rebate cheques to Liberal government is mailing $250 energy rebate cheques to prison inmates By Linda Leatherdale Business Editor Toronto Sun January 22, 2006 Who says crime doesn't pay? Just ask Ottawa's crooked politicians, who've defrauded us of our tax dollars with no fear of ever going to jail. And now they're sending our tax dollars to jailbirds. Read on and try not to burst an artery. Just as we get set to vote tomorrow, $250 energy rebate cheques are being sent to criminals behind bars, who already got to cast their vote in the comfort of their cells, heated by our tax dollars. "Linda, this makes me sick," sniffed a correctional officer, who was on the line complaining he had just distributed cheques from Canada Revenue Agency (formerly Revenue Canada) to four inmates at a provincial detention centre, located north of Toronto. One inmate had been at the detention centre fighting deportation since December 2004, after he was transferred from a federal prison where he had served his sentence. He has 23 convictions, including armed robbery and drug offences. This officer, who's worked for Ontario's ministry of correctional services for 16 years and asked not to be named for fear of being disciplined for speaking out, went on: "I'm delivering money to criminals that's been stolen from me and other hard-working taxpayers in Canada." This isn't the first time, he said. In 2001, in another lamebrained Liberal scheme to help Canadians deal with skyrocketing home heating costs, many inmates received rebate cheques of $125 to $250. It was part of the botched $1.4-billion rebate program, whereby only $250 million went to low-income Canadians struggling with home heating costs. According to Canada's auditor general, most of the rest of the money went to dead people, inmates and Canadians who don't pay any heating bills at all. Now the Liberals are doing it again. Prime Minister Paul Martin refused to listen to taxpayers, who joined in the Sun's gas tax revolt demanding relief from skyrocketing energy prices by axing the high taxes at the gas pumps, especially the GST -- which is a tax on tax. The GST alone has netted Martin's coffers a windfall of millions in extra tax revenues. So last fall I went to Ottawa to deliver thousands of gas tax protection coupons and demand fairness. Martin refused to accept them, so Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, who's promising to cut the 7% GST by 2% on all goods and services, took them. At the same time, Martin and his taxman, Ralph Goodale, announced they were again delivering their flawed rebate program, this time at cost of $2.4 billion. And now criminals are again getting cheques. The Liberals also voted to pump up their own gas allowances by 10%, with an MP now getting $500 for every 1,000 km he or she drives. "Many of my colleagues who work here are struggling with high gasoline prices, home heating costs and electricity bills. Yet, MPs and criminals are getting relief, and not us," complained the disgruntled officer. He also was upset that after alerting tax officials at CRA that government cheques were being sent to a post office address that belongs to a prison, he was told nothing could be done. "Can you believe Revenue Canada told me they have no system in place to cross reference where the cheques are going?" he said. Meanwhile, the mighty hand of Ottawa's tax auditors are quick to come after hard-working, middle-class families. For example, the disgruntled officer said he was audited after claiming moving expenses to take a job north of Toronto. As well, a colleague he works with is being forced to pay back $86 in a GST credit given to his late mother-in-law, who passed away last year. Bottom line is it's not just energy rebate cheques making their way into our prisons. Inmates commonly receive GST credits, worker's compensation, tax refunds, and welfare cheques, though welfare has been clamped down on, the correctional officer said. And, as reported in this space, many a telemarketing scam and other frauds are carried out from inside prison walls. Yet our correctional officers are powerless to blow the whistle. My insider explained, "If I call up and say an inmate is committing fraud, I have violated the oath of secrecy I took as a peace officer." So where's the whistle blower legislation to protect him? Tomorrow is the day to have your say. Get out there and vote. In the words of this correctional officer: "I work to July to hand over all my money to the taxman, and today I gave convicted criminals a rebate cheque. It's all wrong. It's time we stood up and said enough is enough." ********************* Yours in Liberty, Christopher di Armani christopher@diArmani.com Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed regularly, and for the same reason. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 18:58:50 -0600 (CST) From: "Don Goodbrand" Subject: [Fwd: Exile] - Sent to MP Don Lindsay "M.J. Ackermann" wrote: >Subject: [Fwd: Exile] - Sent to MP Don Lindsay >So that is what it has come to, eh? >An old soldier is told to go into exile because he disagrees with The >Party. Very good letter. Perhaps if things turn out well Monday we can suggest to Liberals that if they like the gun laws in Australia and England so much perhaps they could emigrate there and leave the rest of us alone. If it's fair for them to ask us to leave I think it's fair we invite them to as well. Don Goodbrand ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 22:11:39 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: House party shooting injures three people http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20060122/house_party_shooting_060122/20060122?hub=TorontoHome House party shooting injures three people CTV.ca News Staff Sun. Jan. 22 2006 12:15 PM ET Three people were shot during a Sunday morning house party in Mississauga and police are asking for help searching for suspects. Police say the suspects were turned away from the party near Mavis and McLaughlin Roads. The suspects allegedly returned to the home, forced their way in and began shooting. Three victims were brought to hospital. One person was said to be seriously injured and underwent surgery. Investigators are searching for several suspects. Peel Regional Police ask anyone who witnessed the shooting to contact the 12 Division Criminal Investigation Bureau at 905-453-2121, ext. 1233 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 22:13:49 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: No suspects in T.O. basketball game shooting Sun. Jan. 22 2006 1:22 PM ET No suspects in T.O. basketball game shooting CTV.ca News Staff A shooting after a high school basketball game on Saturday sent a 19-year-old man to hospital with two gun shot wounds and left police with no suspects. News reports say that a Toronto high school basketball team was hosting a tournament at the Centennial College campus gym in Scarborough. A fight broke out on a footpath near the gym as the tournament wrapped up around 8 p.m. Police say the victim was approached by a group of 10 males when shots were fired. According to investigators the victim was shot in the leg and upper body, but managed to walk back towards the gym where he collapsed. The victim is said to be recovering in hospital. There are no descriptions of any of the suspects involved in the shooting. Investigators are asking anyone with information to contact police at 416-808-4300 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477). With files from The Canadian Press. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:24:52 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: CFGC Government Contracts and Expenses I've taken the information compiled by Garry and Dennis from their ATIA requests on contracts, grants, and expenses paid to Wendy for her various anti-gun activities, from an .xls format to an HTML webpage. You can take a look at it at: http://home.cogeco.ca/~akimoya/rfc/cfgc.contracts.expenses.html More CFGC info can be found at: http://home.cogeco.ca/~akimoya/rfc/cfgc.html Here's to a Lieberal Free Canada on Tuesday! Bruce Hamilton Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:10:02 -0600 (CST) From: "rgulmer" Subject: Ammunition records Mark Bonokoski Excellent article about how criminals could be provided with a shopping=20 list of firearms to steal. It also shows that the Liberal government = after issuing a warrant to Mr, Hargreaves for unsafe storage of firearms. If = his safe is considered unsafe then the majority of us are guilty as=20 well because we have not gone to this extreme. Kind of gives me the=20 feeling that they are not so interested in who stole the firearms as = they are at charging legal licensed owners. Also the computer system set = up by the Liberals despite being very expensive is I am sure not hacker safe which again provides access to a very large shopping list. Keep up the good work I look fwd to part two. Rick Ulmer Surrey B.C. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:11:01 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Gun owners take aim at Liberal platform PUBLICATION: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) DATE: 2006.01.23 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: A4 BYLINE: Pamela Cowan SOURCE: Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post DATELINE: REGINA WORD COUNT: 512 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gun owners take aim at Liberal platform - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REGINA -- Some gun owners at a gun show and sale held in Regina on Saturday had a Liberal defeat in their sights. Wearing a Conservative button, Bob McGillivray, a gun dealer from Dryden, Ont., was at the Saskatchewan Gun Collector's Association's show and sale held Saturday and Sunday at the Ipsco Turvey Centre. McGillivray plans to vote for the Conservatives on Monday, in part because of the billion-dollar Liberal-imposed gun registry. "People just got out of collecting because the regulations that they brought in made it so difficult to do that and it took away their right to privacy because if you declare yourself a collector then they have the right under the Firearms Act to inspect your collection and you have to keep records -- people just don't want that kind of hassle," he said. ". . . It will be interesting to see what happens after Monday." One of the Conservative election planks is to abandon the long-gun registry and use the savings to hire more police officers. McGillivray was among 60 exhibitors showing or selling firearms, militaria, uniforms, badges and police equipment. "We have people coming from Alberta right across into Ontario," said Raymond Korpus, show manager. "This is our main show and it's been every year since the club began in 1961." Michael Magee's display included more than 100 Remington Rolling Block guns. The Gull Lake resident said he's carried a gun since he was big enough to walk. "My grandfather gave me my first Remington when I was eight years old and I got real serious about collecting them the last 15 years," said the 51-year-old. "I like old guns and history." One gun with an interesting tale was a Remington Rolling Block, New York State militia rifle. "The State of New York, during the Second World War, lent these militia rifles to the Queen's Rifles for training the armed forces because they didn't have enough firearms to train all the people that were going to war in Europe," Magee said. "Only about half were returned." He too took aim at the Liberal gun registry, which he said was poorly instituted and managed. "The basic thought process in the beginning of registering the owners, like the Firearms Acquisition Certificate, there was nothing wrong with that. There are some people who shouldn't have access to firearms, but this registry doesn't work." To illustrate, he pointed to two guns: one that doesn't have to be registered because it's an antique and a modern gun. "It shoots the same cartridge and it's just as deadly, but I don't have to register that gun - -- I could take it to the post office with me and that's perfectly legal." Jim Francis of Regina disposed of his RCMP hand guns and long rifles after the gun registry came into effect. "I didn't need the problems," he said. His large display of RCMP memorabilia included a 21/2 -foot riot stick that officers used in the 1935 Regina riot. "They beat the people away with this," he said. "If you hold on to it real tight, it flexes a bit but not much." Since the 68-year-old started his RCMP collection in 1960, he's amassed many items including an RCMP chauffeur's hat dating back to the 1950s and nameplates for Rogue and Dawn, two horses stabled at Depot Division in 1957. Francis's fascination with Mountie memorabilia resulted from working for 14 years as a civilian at Depot Division. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:11:41 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Large western Nova Scotia riding going to be under the PUBLICATION: The Guardian (Charlottetown) DATE: 2006.01.23 SECTION: Canada PAGE: A5 SOURCE: CP DATELINE: Halifax WORD COUNT: 413 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Large western Nova Scotia riding going to be under the microscope; Rural riding of West Nova has mostly sided with the party which took power in past elections. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It's known for its rich lobster fishery and Acadian roots, but today, voters in a long sweep of land on Nova Scotia's western flank could produce one of the first glimpses of what Canada's political landscape might look like. Pundits and politicians will be closely watching the largely rural riding of West Nova, which has more often than not voted on the side of government as it swings back and forth between the Tories and the Liberals. "I think it's pretty important," Bruce Anderson of Decima Research said Friday from Ottawa in the leadup to the federal vote today. "I think Nova Scotia as a whole is pretty much a bellwether region to watch." The diverse riding, which takes in farmland, fishing communities, anglophones and francophones, is held by Liberal Robert Thibault, a two-term MP who was once the federal fisheries minister. And though the Acadian politician is thought to be hardworking and is popular in the riding, analysts and campaign insiders suggest he's facing a backlash against the party and could have trouble hanging on to the seat. There have been grumblings over a wharf that was privatized by the Liberals and is alleged by fishermen to have fallen into disrepair since being taken over by the private sector. Voters too are still angry over the gun registry and Liberal Leader Paul Martin's pledge to ban handguns, a promise they say is a waste of money and an invasion of their privacy. There is also persistent criticism over the Liberal sponsorship scandal, according to analysts who say the riding could be one of few in the province to swing back to the Tories. "I think West Nova's going to be very close," said Don Mills of Corporate Research Associates in Halifax. "The Tories have a very strong candidate and the gap last time was not so large that it could not be overcome." Thibault won by 4,000 votes in the last election, a margin Conservative candidate Greg Kerr hopes to close by capitalizing on what he says is a growing antipathy toward the Liberals and the sense that there's a need for change. The former provincial cabinet minister has been campaigning hard in the riding, which is said to have been targeted by the Tories as one they hope to take from the Liberals in Atlantic Canada. Kerr said he's noticed a big shift in sentiment in the riding, which a year ago showed a real resistance to Tory Leader Stephen Harper's brand of conservatism. "The last time there was the sense that Martin didn't have his chance and Stephen Harper wasn't catching on," Kerr said from a coffee shop on the campaign trail. "Now they feel quite the opposite - that Martin has had his chance and they're not afraid of Harper." ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V9 #9 ******************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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