From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #571 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, October 13 2003 Volume 06 : Number 571 In this issue: Tactical team called to standoff in Nepean Does your vote count? Lee Enfield Wild day in Quebec City as hostage-taking leads to gunshot, traffic Re: hunts Musketry as a Pillar of Good Citizenship - The Saga Continues My letter to the Ottawa Sun Registration Papers Re: Loads for 43 Mauser? At war with waste and corruption ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:44:32 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Tactical team called to standoff in Nepean http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/News/2003/10/12/223777.html Sun, October 12, 2003 Tactical team called to standoff in Nepean By Sun staff, Ottawa Sun Ottawa police surrounded a Chesterton Dr. townhouse in Nepean and blocked off traffic last night after receiving reports of a man carrying a rifle. When police arrived at the residence at about 8:30 p.m., the occupant flicked off the interior lights, said Insp. Karl Erfle. Police attempted to make contact with the resident, and the tactical team was called to the scene. The owner of the home is believed to be a man in his 50s, who lives alone. DUO SOUGHT IN GAS STATION HEIST Ottawa police are looking for two men after an armed robbery in the city's south end on Friday evening. Two men in their early 20s, wearing balaclavas, walked into a Canadian Tire gas bar on Bank St. at about 8:40 p.m. and forced the clerk to lie on the floor. The men fled with cigarettes. One suspect was armed with a black gun, but no shots were fired. Anyone with information is asked to call Ottawa Police at 236-1222. MAN TOSSED FROM CAR, NO SEATBELT A 45-year-old man was taken to hospital in critical condition after the white Ford van he was driving rolled while travelling in the eastbound lane of Hwy. 17 just east of Upper Dwyer Hill Rd. at about 3:25 a.m. yesterday. The driver, who was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash, was ejected from the vehicle. The single-vehicle accident closed Hwy. 17 in both directions for about five hours. The Ottawa detachment of the OPP is investigating. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:45:05 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Does your vote count? http://www.canoe.com/Columnists/robinson.html October 11, 2003 Does your vote count? Cabinet solidarity is what determines whether a government succeeds or fails with little room for backbench input. John Turner calls it living under an 'elected dictatorship' By WALTER ROBINSON -- Ottawa Sun If you surveyed 10 citizens on any main street in any city in Canada, it is likely that you would find seven or eight that would answer "yes" if you asked them if our parliamentary system was dysfunctional. To many of us this is self-evident: From declining voter turnout to electing ineffective parliamentarians of all partisan stripes to the country-club federalism that now emanates from premiers' offices and the PMO, our body politic is replete with anecdotes and examples that have understandably driven Canadians away from the democratic process. And if there is one group that has captured this in spades and then some, it is Toronto-based Stornoway productions and their work on the Underground Royal Commission (URC). It is an endeavour which has spawned 16 books, 14 hours of digital television programming(also available on VHS) and a website, www.theurc.com. And make sure you surf by theurc.com, as opposed to simply urc.com which will direct you to Pennsylvania-based United Refining Company -- this site is all about oil as opposed to the crisis in Canadian democracy. When I think of royal commissions I think of the Carter Commission on Taxation from 1966 which recommended the family be the base unit of taxation -- a recommendation ignored to this day by the government of Canada. Or the Royal Commission on Reproductive Technologies in the late 1980s that sounded the alarm bell on the ethical dilemmas surrounding stem cell research and assisted human reproduction that required parliamentary intervention. FYI, these issues are now just getting a hearing in the corridors of power a decade later even though the technology involved is in its third- and fourth-generation iterations. Even some of the better recommendations in the Romanow Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care (read: Sustainability as a sixth principle in the Canada Health Act) have been ignored. Indeed this is a common thread running through successive royal commissions: Political bravado leading to expensive and encompassing national investigations leading to well-researched, thought-provoking, forest-felling volumes of reports which lead to inaction, dust collection and basically nothing by way of concrete public policy changes. But the Underground Royal Commission should not be ignored. This series of books, videos and discussion forums (all of which have been turned into university-level courses) is the clarion call for reform of our institutions. And if his inevitableness Paul Martin is serious about fixing Parliament, he should take a few hours at his famed "farm" in the Eastern Townships to view the last video in the URC series entitled Does Your Vote Count? In fact Mr. Martin actually owes me a visit to the farm and I would be more than willing to devote a Saturday from one of my in-law weekends on the south shore and make the trip from Drummondville to Brome and bring him a copy of this video. (Memo to Mr. Martin's scheduling shop -- give me a call, you know where to find me, I'll make the time.) So it was ironic that this video was screened earlier this week, Tuesday morning to be precise, to a crowd of politicos and media types at the Chateau Laurier along with a scathing speech by former prime minister John Turner on the very same day that Mr. Martin invited his Liberal caucus colleagues to a pizza and beer gabfest (read: Unofficial caucus meeting) in Centre Block that evening. Does Your Vote Count? paints an ugly but realistic picture of our House of Commons which has been neutered and rendered more and more impotent as the decades have passed. For example, closure as a means of ending debate early and shutting down the opposition so the government can ram legislation into law has been employed more times in the last quarter-century than the previous 113 years of our history as a nation by a ratio of six to one. As for Mr. Turner's remarks he rightly noted that cabinet and cabinet solidarity really determines whether a government succeeds or fails. Indeed, he repeated the fact -- not assertion of opinion -- we are living under an "elected dictatorship." And to be fair, Mr. Turner has said this for over four decades -- even before I was a twinkle in my father's eye and when John F. Kennedy was still the president of the United States. As for the role of MP as legislator and political entrepreneur, such examples are truly exceptions to the rule. Excessive party discipline, whipped votes on almost every issue including private member's bills, a powerful and technically armed civil service and a media-driven "cult of personality and leadership" have all unconsciously yet conveniently conspired to render MPs almost powerless.< Yet there is hope. Backbenchers from all parties are fighting back and working together in parliamentary committees and defying their party leadership when issues of policy and process trump partisanship. And the expectations around Paul Martin's promises of reform and empowerment have now taken on a life of their own. The proverbial reform train has left the station and its destination cannot be determined by an overbearing PMO. Hopefully, the next federal election -- regardless of the Liberal lead in the polls or if the right has united or not or if the NDP has any traction beyond its narrow base -- will offer up candidates who present themselves and their order of priorities determining their elected conduct as follows: First they will be loyal to their own values, moral compass and conscience; second, they will serve the will of their constituents; and finally if these two criteria are satisfied and congruent, then and only then will they also vote and align themselves with the party platform on which they were elected. Along with Mr. Martin, aspiring MPs would be wise to visit the URC website and get a copy of John Turner's remarks from this past Tuesday -- both should be required reading and study for returning and future parliamentarians. Robinson is federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation; these views do not necessarily reflect those of the CTF. his e-mail address is wjr@cyberus.ca Letters to the editor should be sent to oped@sunpub.com. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:45:47 -0600 (CST) From: "Tom Falls" Subject: Lee Enfield Jim- "...or a wildcat using necked down .303 British brass? " - -I m using a 5.56mm Tgt Bbl "Have you considered a cheek-piece of some variety?" - -Yes. Option 1 is modding a wooden LE butt with a carved cheek-piece. Option 2 is a clamp-on using straps or similar (not pretty). Option 3 is to go plastic. I would like a reasonably low scope mount to keep the sight-line low and minimize the cheekpiece. The B square I used works OK, in that it seems solid enough and the groups were tight, but my hold was awful due to the butt barely in contact with my jaw. If I am going to put a round or two out of this - and I would like to - I need a higher cheek-piece. The optimal solution - price and all - is to mod an LE butt and keep the fore-end. The high end solution is to go all plastic (such as the ATI stock), but the butt is hard to mod if the cheek-piece still isn't high enough due to the height of the scope. Hence my earlier question about which mount is higher, the B-Square or the ATI mount. Thanks, Tom ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:46:06 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Wild day in Quebec City as hostage-taking leads to gunshot, traffic http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2003/10/12/224529-cp.html Sun, October 12, 2003 Wild day in Quebec City as hostage-taking leads to gunshot, traffic accident QUEBEC (CP) - A hostage-taking in Quebec City ended in dramatic fashion Sunday as several tactical officers subdued a 24-year-old suspect who had held a man at gunpoint for 12 hours. Television news footage showed six or seven officers dragging a suspect to the ground after he attempted to flee a downtown apartment building during the standoff. The disturbance began early Sunday when a man wanted by police barricaded himself inside the basement of the apartment with an unidentified male hostage. A shot was fired in the direction of officers, prompting police to shut down the entire street. Fifty officers, including a tactical squad, participated in the operation at the height of the standoff. The suspect attempted to flee the scene after several hours of negotiations, but he was tackled by officers and led away in handcuffs. "He was transported to hospital for evaluation," provincial police spokesman Richard Gagne told reporters. "It's possible he may have consumed drugs during the day, but that has yet to be confirmed by the investigation." The hostage-taking triggered a case of road rage earlier in the day when a motorist was turned away at a cordoned-off street and proceeded to run down and seriously injure a delivery man. The victim's leg was severed during the incident, according to news reports. The motorist was arrested by officers on the scene. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:47:03 -0600 (CST) From: B Farion Subject: Re: hunts >'It will come as no surprise if foreign trophy hunting becomes the sport of >choice for those facing a ban on hunting with hounds and similar pursuits in >the UK,' Batchelor said. 'Hunters who are rich enough will look for their >thrills elsewhere. The only solution is for the EU to ban imports of trophy >parts of animals killed for sport.' > >· Additional reporting by Karen Gavelin Hi; Well, when I went on my hunt to Africa, the PG told me that he had to do it because he could not survive as a farmer because of EU and Ugly Yankee subsidies. Corn fed beef from USA or butter from the UK was dirt cheap and dumped on Namibia! What a bunch of sluts those anti-hunting feminists are! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 22:26:42 -0600 (CST) From: "Tom Falls" Subject: Musketry as a Pillar of Good Citizenship - The Saga Continues Honestly Rick, I just couldn't help myself :-) On an SSEP course in 1972, we watched a 17 year old female recruit put five shots from a Rifle, 7.62mm, FN C1A1 into a two inch group at 100 yards. "How did you do that?" someone asked, "I just did what the Corporals told me to do." she said. Those who thought it was a fluke thought again when she grouped another five shots into a THREE inch circle at TWO hundred yards. I don't think it was an 8L serialed rifle, either. Figure, at the time, the 11 pound FN was about 12% of her body weight, maybe. Those courses were good for grade 13 students on their way to university. Thirty years later, there must be thousands of men and women in the professional fields who had a teenage experience firing 7.62mm FN rifles. A pity we couldn't harness that, somehow. The leave the scope on thing: The last time I bet on tightest group at 100 (with an FN), I won a case of beer. Natch, the other guy drank half of it (Gerhard: You lurkin' out there?). The tank thing: Golly Rick, haven't you ever driven a tank? Heck, even my wife has driven a tank. My son rode in a tank when he was about 3 months old. The car seat fits in the gun basket of the 105. I passed him out to his mother through the pistol port. The Lee Enfield thing. Thanks for all the ideas so far. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks! Tom ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 22:27:17 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: My letter to the Ottawa Sun Just submitted, not yet printed. Have you written a letter today? - -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Sword issue cuts both ways Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 00:28:51 -0400 From: Bruce Mills To: Editor - Ottawa Sun Why is it every time a criminal uses a particular weapon to injure or rob someone, the lib-left do-gooders have to turn it into an "issue". There has been a rash of criminals using cars to run down cops recently - why aren't there the same concerns about a "car issue"? This is what happens when you attempt to shift the blame from the person using a weapon to the weapon itself. "Weapons" are inanimate objects, with no volition of their own. The fact that there is a shift in murders from guns to knives, and that murders are up overall, should be an indication that it is people that kill people, and the type of object used is immaterial. Instead of crusading against objects, concentrate on the criminals who actually commit the crime. Bruce Hamilton Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 08:07:30 -0600 (CST) From: "Rick, Sam & Tyler" Subject: Registration Papers Hi All: Registered my guns back in December 2002. I have not received the paper work yet. Is anyone else having the same problem ? Richard C Turner ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 08:09:33 -0600 (CST) From: Rick Subject: Re: Loads for 43 Mauser? 10x@telus.net wrote: > Some very patient and hardworking fellow has designed a > program similar to Homer Powley's Load Calculator. > > With carefull measuring you can use this information to develop a load. > It may not include Varget powder though. > Try it out and compare your results to those published in reloading manuals > > WinLoad 2.12 > http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jmk/ The problem with simple programs like this - and no disrespect to the bright boy who wrote this freeware for shooters - is at least twofold. First, Powley's computer only dealt with IMR powders... that leaves out an awful lot of useful powders. Second, they work from the assumption that cartridges all have the same working pressure - in the case of Winload, 45,000 PSI, the same as Homer Powley used back in the 60's. So - using the .43 Mauser, .45/70 or a similar cartridge for an example, it is going to calculate loads that are significantly overpressure. Quickload is an example of a much more thorough internal ballistics program - but it isn't freeware. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 08:29:42 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: At war with waste and corruption http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1065737414484&call_pageid=1012319932217&col=1012319928928 Oct. 11, 2003. 01:00 AM At war with waste and corruption Sheila Fraser has blown the whistle many times on profligate federal government spending And in the process, Canada's auditor-ge OTTAWA—In her glass-walled office high above the Ottawa River, the woman who keeps tabs on how $180 billion of taxpayers' money is spent works at a highly polished wooden desk that cost one of her predecessors just $248. More than just furniture, the desk and an ornately carved matching wastebasket — price: $18 — are a daily reminder that questions of value, while relative, are always with us. In fact, Sheila Fraser explains, the man who ordered up the furniture — former auditor-general Georges Gonthier — was pilloried in the House of Commons for spending so much money to spruce up his office during the hardscrabble Dirty Thirties. Seventy years later, Fraser is carrying on a daily, seemingly endless battle to bring federal government spending under control. A 52-year-old accountant who became the first-ever female auditor-general two years ago, she has managed to do what has eluded many a chief federal bean-counter before her — get Canadians up in arms about waste and corruption in Ottawa. In the process, the mother of three has become an unlikely star, a national hero whose unflappable determination to root out wrongdoing is shaking up the complacent, insular world of privilege and power in Ottawa. "I think it's making lots of people in the government extremely uneasy, and that's bound to precipitate some good results," Jack Layton, the New Democratic Party leader, says of Fraser's digging. Her investigations have blown the lid off Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's government that had long seemed immune to scandal. The scathing examination of former privacy commissioner George Radwanski's extravagant, taxpayer-financed lifestyle touched off a national uproar a few weeks ago. And last year's probe of $1.6 million in questionable contracts awarded Montreal public relations firm Groupaction produced a stink around the Chretién government unlike anything before in his 10 years in power. Besides calling in the RCMP, Fraser followed up the work on the Liberal-connected Groupaction with a decision to launch a massive, government-wide investigation into the entire, $40-million-a-year sponsorship and advertising program that included the Groupaction contracts. And, although no one knows what the far-reaching audit will unearth, the investigation looms as a possibly devastating indictment of spending practices under the Liberals. But the curtain may come down on the Chretién era before the results of the 18-month investigation are made public. With the Liberal party about to choose Paul Martin as its new leader on Nov. 14, the Prime Minister could end the current session of Parliament before Fraser's report is released as scheduled in the Commons on Nov. 25. If so, it will land in Martin's lap next year. Throughout all this, Fraser, a former partner at Ernst & Young accountants, has shown an extraordinary ability to turn the results of her plodding explorations of Ottawa's books into a rallying cry against government waste. Rejecting the bureaucrateese in which former auditors sometimes buried their findings, Fraser presents the results of her investigations in simple, hard-hitting language. In her report on Radwanski, she stunned MPs and the public alike by stating that the abuses, extravagance, cronyism and mishandling of public funds at the privacy commission were beyond her "wildest dreams." And her description of Radwanski's management style as a "reign of terror" still resonates. And many still remember her April, 2002, indictment of federal officials who "broke every rule in the book" in their zeal to hand out government contracts under the federal sponsorship program. "This auditor-general has been particularly effective in making her point," Tory MP Scott Brison says. "She has demonstrated great effectiveness in presenting her views and defending them vigorously and she seems extremely tenacious. Her work shows significant competence and personal courage." The auditor-general manages a staff of 600 in six regional offices across the country with a mandate to scrutinize the effectiveness and spending of 70 government departments, plus some 100 agencies and Crown corporations. In scope and importance, it is one of the biggest jobs in the federal administration. Yet Fraser, who can be found sitting in the economy seats during her many flights within Canada — rather than in the business class favoured by other senior government officials — displays little of the flamboyance that is a staple of politically attuned Ottawa. She is quiet-spoken and unassuming. Talk of her sudden star quality, for instance, only prompts an amused laugh. "People who go into accounting aren't searching for limelight, and that has probably been the biggest surprise to this job," she says. "I knew there would be media attention on the reports. But personally, I didn't think there would be this much." In fact, what Fraser seems to bring to the staid, imposing auditor-general's office is, above all, a genuine human quality. Far from gloating over the way she eviscerated Radwanski, she appears dismayed about the high-handed treatment he dished out to his employees. `She is very much part of the accountability process which keeps the government largely on the straight and narrow' John Williams, Canadian Alliance MP "A lot of people have been hurt by this, him included," she says. "It's not the kind of report we like to do." In keeping with past practice, she has identified an overarching theme to be followed as she chooses which aspects of government operations to delve into. Rather than applying a dull accountant's yardstick to Ottawa's myriad operations, Fraser has opted to look at the government through the lens of Canadians' well-being. This means special audits on how federal programs are protecting public health, security and the environment. She has also chosen to examine the government's efforts to sustain the national heritage through art galleries and museums and to scrutinize Aboriginal issues. Looking across the government, she concludes the situation has improved from the days of "terrible financial management" chronicled by her predecessors 20 or 30 years ago. But Fraser, who crunched numbers in the private sector for years, says the problem is that government officials don't have the same motivation as business executives. "The private sector is very much focused on finances, the bottom line and (a company's) share value, whereas in government you don't have those measures. "People are more concerned about managing the cash that Parliament appropriates to them," she says. Government executives try to avoid overspending but they also try "to spend as much as they can" of their budget, she says. Federal officials who don't use up all of their allocated funds may find their budget cut the following year. Ottawa still lacks a culture of accountability, Fraser says. Information on spending is in short supply, control systems are inadequate and financial management has not been viewed as a "glamorous" role in the halls of government. "It's starting to come but it's very slow." In her reports, Fraser has slammed the government for: Spending almost $1 billion more than estimated on Canada's gun registry. Allowing a growing backlog of up to 36,000 people who may be in the country illegally after being ordered out of the country by the immigration department. Lacking the manpower and determination to ensure Canadians have access to equal health-care services across the country. Letting the surplus in the employment insurance premiums collected from Canadians balloon to $40 billion. Putting $7 billion in private foundations whose spending cannot be vetted by the federal cabinet or Parliament. If Fraser seems uniquely suited for her post, it's no surprise. On the wall of her office is a photograph of Parliament Hill from the early 20th century, when her grandfather's cousin had the job. Fraser, who grew up on a farm near Valleyfield, Que., says she didn't intend to be a bean-counter but took accounting after getting bored with math at university. After working in her chosen profession in Quebec city for about 20 years, she was lured to Ottawa in 1999 to become deputy auditor-general in charge of audit operations. She took over the top job — with its 10-year term — in May, 2001. Her husband, Henri Gagnon, is also an accountant. Canadian Alliance MP John Williams, who specializes in looking for government financial fiascos, says there never seems to be any shortage of examples of waste and carelessness. "So a lot of people say, `Every time you turn over a stone, it's another horror story and why can't the auditor-general get on top of it?'" But the auditor-general represents only one office of government trying to control $180 billion in annual federal spending, says Williams, the chair of the Commons Public Accounts committee. Of Fraser, he says: "The point is: She is very much part of the accountability process which keeps the government largely on the straight and narrow. "Parliament, which also should be part of that accountability process that should be keeping the government on the straight and narrow, fails miserably. "But she doesn't." ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #571 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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