The private members bill to abolish the gun registry passed last night by a 164-137 vote. However, it may not be time to stick a fork in the registry quite yet .
From second reading it will go to the Public Safety and National Security Committee, which, if I’m reading parl.gc.ca right, has the following members:
Yea
Garry Breitkreuz – CPC
Shelly Glover – CPC
Dave MacKenzie – CPC
Phil McColeman – CPC
Rick Norlock – CPC
Brent Rathgeber – CPC
Nay
Don Davies – NDP
Mark Holland – Liberal
Andrew Kania – Liberal
Serge Menard – BQ
Maria Mourani – BQ
Robert Oliphant – Liberal
So the committee would appear to be locked 6-6, but Breitkreuz is the chair, which means MPs who voted against abolishing the registry have a voting majority on committee.
What they do with that majority remains to be seen, and will likely depend on how Layton and Ignatieff decide to play their cards. Which has been somewhat haphazard to date.
Back in April, Ignatieff was proclaiming he wouldn’t let the registry die, and then last night he let his MPs vote to do just that. He also made some noise about decriminalizing the registry although, him being Michael Ignatieff and all, it’s not exactly clear what he’s proposing or when he’s proposing to do it. Perhaps it’s another piece of the super-secret platform (since, you know, the Tories might steal his idea to keep the registry alive). Layton, by virtue of his caucus being even more split, has been tap dancing even more feverishly than Ignatieff.
So the decrim option does seem to be the logical path since it gives Layton and Ignatieff an out, and finds one of those good old Canadian sunny compromises. If the Bloc can be brought onside (debatable), they could effectively kill the current bill in committee or third reading, and then re-introduce new legislation.
Of course, there might be an election before then, but I can’t see the decrim position hurting the Liberals or NDP dramatically – it gives rural MPs a leg to stand on, while at the same time attacking urban and Quebec Tories for wanting to kill the registry.
So, stay tuned. The registry is far from dead.