Government legislation that will end the 16-year-old long gun registry has passed a major parliamentary hurdle as MPs approved Bill C-19 in principle yesterday and sent it to committee for study.
Two northwestern Ontario New Democrats joined with Conservative MPs to pass the bill 156-123. John Rafferty and Bruce Hyer skipped a vote on an NDP motion to keep the registry and then sided with the government in voting for the legislation.
Two other rural NDP gun registry critics were not present for the vote: Nathan Cullen from British Columbia, who is running for the NDP leadership, and Dennis Bevington from the Arctic.
Prince Edward Island veteran Liberal Wayne Easter, a longtime registry critic, voted with his party against it.
The vote was a key part of a good week on Parliament Hill for Conservative MPs and their rural agenda.
The evening of the gun registry vote, a special committee was convening down the parliamentary hallway to begin just two nights of witness testimony about legislation to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly. Conservatives plan to use their majority to approve Bill C-18 by midnight tomorrow so that it can be sent back to the House of Commons Nov. 14 for final debate and passage that week.
Then it will be off to the Senate for what the government wants to be quick passage.
And today, the Commons began two scheduled days of debate on legislation that will increase parliamentary representation for Alberta and British Columbia, as well as Ontario and Quebec, by the 2015 federal election.
All three legislative initiatives fulfill long-standing Reform, Alliance and Conservative election promises to rural and prairie voters.
