Democracy under Fire

 I am very disturbed to see that Democracy in  Canada is coming under fire , but not from the sources expected.  IN the Canadian House of Commons, the official Opposition, the New Democratic Party of Canada has silenced members of it's own party.  Stifled.  Not allowed to speak.  This is not a good sign. Canadians thought the Conservative majority would abuse it's power. That's happening too, --but abuse of power by a majority government is almost expected, perhaps even guaranteed.

The abuse of power in Ottawa, however, seems to be contagious and very unsettling.

The immediate and severe sanctions of NDP MP's  John Rafferty (Thunder Bay-Rainy River) and Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay-Superior North)  because of their vote supporting Bill  C19 dismantling the long-gun registry is far more suggestive of the development of a nasty little  dictatorship  within a political party than a democratic collection of individuals with the future of Canada at heart. 

   As punishment for their  votes,  the voices of the representatives of Thunder Bay have been silenced for the duration in the House of Commons. They have been removed from all committees and previous duties at the whim of a timid, overbearing but  clearly incompetent and inexperienced  interim political leader. Apparently the interim leader does not yet understand that respect of leadership is earned through astute decision-making, not by vicious reprimand.

 The majority  Conservatives under Stephen Harper  moved Bill C19  to fulfill a long-time promise   to abolish and dismantle the  despised  "Liberal"  long gun registry,  which was an ill-devised,  wasteful, knee-jerk  attempt to legislate the mandatory  registration of  all firearms owned by drug dealers, criminals, murderers and  honest farmers alike --at a cost of a huge bureaucracy and  billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars.  The registry failed miserably.  Not a single criminal registered his GUNS. Not a single drug dealer turned in his arsenal of GUNS.  Not a single murderer turned in his hunting rifle. 

We hate to say "we told you so" but guess what? Canadians all across Canada  "told you so".  I digress...

The Thunder Bay NDP members voted for the wishes of their constituents instead of voting against C19, a move that apparently  that did not meet the approval or high-handed "leadership"   of   interim NDP leader  Nycole Turmel.

 The vote was supposedly 'whipped'  under her 'guidance', which, after-the-fact--seems to have required the unanimous vote of  all NDP MPs. 

  MP John Rafferty, a man of impeccable character, was reportedly not advised of the requirement of the vote. He would have voted for abolishing the long gun registry regardless. After four elections,  John Rafferty has shown that he has both spine and ethics.

Why was Nycole Turmel wrong in this matter?

Because the conclusion of the vote was inevitable and passed second reading (156 to 123) and passed by  the  conservative majority.

  The subsequent  sanctions of  the Thunder Bay MP's was clearly no less than a display of inept,  rather stupid and heavy-handed leadership. Would  the same questionable decision have been   made under the leadership of  highly-respected  late Jack Layton?    Unlikely.

One thing for sure,  at Incoming Bytes, it is very, very clear that  sanctions against MP's  voting for their constituent's  as opposed to the 'party line' are  far from the democratic process Canadians naively believe they live under. 

Ms. Nycole Turmel has revealed her true colours and  clearly now cannot be trusted as the leader of the official leader of the New Democratic Party even on an interim basis.    

She has displayed bad judgment in this matter and has merely silenced the only members of her caucus that displayed any backbone.  NOT a good sign for the New " Democratic" Party of Canada.


that's my story and I'm sticking to it.