Handgun announcement touches off debate

By Dan Hilborn
Published Dec. 14, 2005


When Prime Minister Paul Martin announced last week that he wanted to ban all handguns in Canada, he touched off a firestorm of debate that revealed some interesting twists to the usual party-line rhetoric heard during an election.

While his critics were quick to dismiss the announcement as irrelevant, a phone-around to local candidates of all stripes showed the debate was far more varied than what was portrayed in the major media.

Local Liberals see the proposal as a motherhood statement that is part of an overall public safety package. But the opposition parties see the potential for another boondoggle that does nothing to make Canada safer.

"The ban on handguns is a value statement," said Burnaby-Douglas Liberal Bill Cunningham, a longtime Martin loyalist and former executive director of the federal cabinet offices in Vancouver. "In an urban environment, handguns have no place in our society. That is not something we value.

"It's quite the opposite notion from what you'd see in the U.S., where handguns are a part of everyday life. That's something we outright reject," Cunningham said.

Cunningham said one of the more significant parts of the announcement received little attention in the media - that the Liberals would dedicate another $10 million per year to produce more RCMP officers out of the training facility in Regina.

"That's of particular significance to a community like Burnaby, especially after we just went through a municipal campaign where there was a lot of talk about the supply of police officers."

Mary Pynenburg, the Liberal in Burnaby-New Westminster, also pointed to other aspects of the prime minister's announcement, such as a $40 million funding increase to hire more border officers and a new $50 million crime prevention fund.

"As an MP, I'll work hard to ensure these national initiatives find a home in Burnaby-New Westminster," said the former director of planning for the City of New Westminster. "I believe the current MP has not done enough, and I can do better."

Pynenburg also expressed concern about reports that the Conservative party may be receiving "grassroots support" from the U.S.-based gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association.

Burnaby's two current MPs - NDP rookies Peter Julian and Bill Siksay - said the problems with handguns in Canada stem from a lack of action from the Liberal government over the past dozen years.

In a press release, Julian said that an estimated 60 border crossings into the U.S. are unstaffed at various times.

"It's like rolling out the welcome mat for American gun runners," Julian said.

Siksay made similar comments.

"Just this week, a couple of blocks from where I live there was a gun incident on Dundas Street," he said.

"Everyone is very concerned when that kind of thing happens, but my sense is it's still a very rare exception. But any incident is too many, and I want to make sure as a society we do whatever we can to make sure this kind of crime is seen as unacceptable."

Dawn Black, the former NDP MP who is running in New Westminster-Coquitlam, said another issue of concern is the elimination of the ports police and the lack of adequate screening equipment to catch illegal contraband crossing the border.

Local Conservatives also pointed to the Liberals' lack of action in the past and reiterated their plan to cancel the $1 billion gun registry program and spend the money on increased police services.

"Essentially, the prime minister reannounced the current law, which he has failed to enforce," said Paul Forseth, the Tory MP in New Westminster-Coquitlam.

"The situation with the pervasiveness of handguns has worsened under the Liberal administration.

"I remember having breakfast with Allan Rock and he asked me, as the then-Reform critic on justice, about the registry and I warned him against it. I said it wouldn't work, but he went ahead anyway for political reasons.

"Everything I said would happen that would go wrong has gone wrong," he said. "So we were right, and they were wrong."

Marc Dalton, the Tory candidate in Burnaby-New Westminster, said he simply does not trust the other parties on the issue of crime.

"I don't feel the NDP or Liberals are serious about law enforcement. They've allowed the drug culture to get out of control.

"We believe in stiffening penalties so people who are toying around with or thinking of using guns have second thoughts," said Dalton, who also supports the elimination of the gun registry.

Ray Power, a former RCMP officer and the Green Party candidate in Burnaby-Douglas, said the current handgun debate seemed kind of "silly" to him.

"There is a ban on handguns already and to own one you have to register and go through checks," he said. "He (Martin) hasn't really said anything new. That's the problem with elections. We keep reconstituting stuff that's already in law."

Power said he personally stopped carrying a handgun after he left the police service years ago. "When my eldest boy was four or five years old, I remember taking him out to fire a shot and seeing his reaction. I decided then that wasn't something I wanted to do anymore."

Independent candidate Paul Warnett, who decided to run in the New Westminster-Coquitlam riding after his mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident, said he supports stiffer penalties for people who use guns in the commission of a crime.

"The problem is that during an election campaign everyone says the right thing about what they're planning to do. Whether that actually carries through after the election is the tricky part," Warnett said.