Trigger happy Tories shoot the messenger

Guest commentary
By Mark Holland

Just like police officers across the country, I have deep respect for RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak. His work as Director General of the Canadian Firearms Program, which oversees the gun registry, has been vitally important to public safety in this country. He is credited with significantly improving the program’s efficiency, winning him deserved praise and respect from police chiefs and frontline officers alike. 
The Harper Conservatives, who want to kill the gun registry, have shoved Chief Supt. Cheliak out of a job he excelled at. Threatened by Chief Supt. Cheliak’s success at using the gun registry to protect frontline police officers from gun violence, he is now just the latest in a long line of victims of the Harper Conservative’s dangerous ideology. Just like the Victims Ombudsman, our Head Statistician, the Military Public Complaints Commissioner, the RCMP Public Complaints Commissioner, the Nuclear Safety Regulator, Diplomat Richard Colvin and anyone else who disagrees with them, Chief Supt. Cheliak was tossed aside because he chose to uphold facts and truth.
As an MP, you get to know these people, how dedicated they are, how well they do their jobs and how important their work is to Canada. The fact that they are being fired or marginalized because they refuse to regurgitate talking points they disagree with is deeply disturbing.
Dissent is vital to democracy. Shutting down independent voices and experts while shunning facts threatens our democracy. People like Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak tell it like it is and challenge false assertions, whether they’re made by the Harper government or anyone else.  Whether convenient or not, we must listen to these voices to have a healthy country.
Canada’s 400 Police Chiefs and 150 police associations elected to represent front line officers overwhelmingly support the gun registry. Paediatricians, ER workers, Paramedics, nurses, doctors, bar associations and victims groups say the registry saves lives. Meanwhile, the RCMP tells us that killing the registry will only save 4 million dollars a year.
My grandfather was a hunter. I grew up firing a gun. I don’t hate guns any more than I hate cars, because I believe in registering them both. You must register your car, your boat, even your dog – so why not register your gun. You can do it for free and the process is simple.
Go up to an officer and ask them about the registry, about how they use it.  A vast majority will agree that it is a tool that helps keep our community safe and saves lives. I can’t think of another tool in policing that has such near unanimous support – yet the Conservatives want to kill it so they can drive a wedge between rural and urban Canada.
RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak knew this. He knows this program inside and out, better than anyone else, and he knows just how important it is to public safety. These are all reasons why he got targeted for removal, and it fits with the Harper Conservative pattern. When confronted with information proving that they are wrong, Conservatives fire, remove or personally attack the source. They never consider that they might be wrong.
The Liberal party is united in support of the registry, and have committed to improving it. Now it is up the NDP, whose votes will decide if the registry is killed or saved. The NDP says they don’t decide as a caucus how to vote for private members bills – but it’s as plain as day that the bill to kill the gun registry is a government bill masquerading as a private members bill. Either the NDP believes in effective gun control and backing up our police, or they don’t.  Which is it going to be Jack?
There aren’t many black and white issues in politics – but this is one. Killing the registry is dead wrong and we need all hands on deck to save it. The Conservatives know they are losing the battle, that’s why they refused to allow a vote in June and that’s why they’re silencing voices like Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak. Let’s make sure they don’t get away with it

Mark Holland is the MP for Ajax-Pickering and the Liberal Critic for Public Safety and National Security