Saskatchewan’s NDP will continue to disagree with the federal party about the long gun registry.The provincial party has since 1995 opposed federal gun control legislation and even took Ottawa to court over it.Federal NDP leader Jack Layton in Regina last week said enough of his MPs would vote Sept. 22 to save the registry so that they could hold off the Conservative effort to eliminate it. The Liberals and Bloc Quebecois have said they will vote to retain it.But the provincial leader, Dwain Lingenfelter, said his party’s position had not changed.He also told reporters that rural residents were more worried about flooding and health care than the gun registry.”This is a phony issue by a prime minister who is trying to change the channel and get people off of what really concerns them,” he said.That prompted Saskatchewan Party MLA Dan D’Autremont to say Lingenfelter is out of touch with rural people. “I have spoken with thousands of law-abiding hunters, farmers and sport shooters in Saskatchewan and to them this is a very real form of unnecessary harassment,” D’Autremont said.Rural Saskatchewan residents in particular have opposed the long gun registry since its inception, saying law-abiding hunters and farmers shouldn’t be required to register guns.But several women’s organizations said that criminals don’t just choose hand guns and noted that rural women face a greater risk of injury or death from a long gun.”We know that violence against women is not just a problem in urban areas,” said a letter from the Saskatchewan Coalition to Preserve the Gun Registry to the federal NDP caucus.Diane Delaney, of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan, said the position of the provincial NDP was “disheartening to say the least.”
Sask. NDP still at odds with federal NDP on long gun registry
explore
Stories from our other publications
