Political Sanctions: Punishment for Voting Democratically

Hunting Rifles  "Long Guns"

"What would she do next, haul down the ethical shorts of democracy and whip them into submission?"

Two federal politicians from Thunder Bay, Ontario have again been publicly punished for the willful  practice of  democracy.

  The two long-term members of parliament correctly and ethically voted with the Conservative majority government on a controversial government bill C-19 ---contrary to the warnings of a very unhappy and vindictive   Ms. Nycole Turmel, acting control freak  temporary leader of the New Democratic Party.

The highly-respected,  responsible long-term members of parliament supported the federal move  to dismantle and scrap the idiotic, ill-devised,  and controversial Liberal  long-gun registry, derisively called  the 'Billion-Dollar-Boondoggle.
Third and final reading and vote to  kill the registry took place on  February 15th, 2012. The vote passed.

 Unbelievably,  Ms. Turmel vindictively extended the  heavy-handed sanctions that she  improperly inflicted upon  MP's   Bruce Heyer (N.D.P. Thunder Bay-Superior North ) and  John Rafferty (N.D.P. Thunder Bay-Rainy River)  back in November .
 The two dignified victims of  the unwarranted sanctions logically supported C 19 on the first reading,  voting  the wishes of their constituents instead of following the NDP  "official line".

The  long gun registry unfairly targeted sportsmen, home-owners, hunters, and farmers by requiring the registration of all firearms. Failure to register  a hunting rifle, shotgun, or target rifle was deemed a criminal act.
 In Canada, a license is still  required to purchase or possess firearms, fully-automatic weapons  are banned,  and  registration of all handguns is required regardless of purpose.

All Legal handguns in Canada must be Registered

With --or without the support of  the Thunder Bay NDP  members,     Bill C19 would have passed simply because the current Conservative government holds a comfortable majority and was fulfilling a long-term promise to Canadian voters.

That glaring fact makes Nycole Turmel's  punishment appear even more blatantly stupid ridiculous and heavy-handed.
At Incoming Bytes we must conclude it's probably  a good thing  Nycole is not in the leadership race. The momentary titillation of power must have been overwhelming.

In observation in life and in politics,  there's nothing quite like running into a solid brick wall, backing up, and stupidly doing it again. Perhaps she should consider resigning;  after all.... What would  she do next,  haul down the  ethical shorts of democracy and whip them into submission?
 
Kind of kinky, isn't it?  .. Democracy being stifled by control freaks.  What else is new?


Is that incoming I hear?

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.