From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #88 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 Wednesday, April 21 2004 Volume 07 : Number 088 In this issue: Column: What's so scary about MPs quizzing judges? $6M worth of guns seized en route to N.Y. PAIR CHARGED IN BAR HEIST Column: While Martin recycles pledges of guns, Forces go without: Gun found after two men shot to death in Okanagan home Man charged with murder; Four arrested as police raid nets guns, drugs and cash 90 restricted and prohibited guns police found in his home Letter: Arctic sovereignty Editorial: without individual property rights, wealth creation is an ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:17:21 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Column: What's so scary about MPs quizzing judges? PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: National SECTION: Comment PAGE: A18 COLUMN: Andrew Coyne BYLINE: Andrew Coyne SOURCE: National Post - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's so scary about MPs quizzing judges? - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The good news is that Paul Martin has narrowed his list of priorities down to five. As unveiled in last week's Toronto speech, they are health care, education, aboriginals, cities and Canada's role in the world. That's about two more than he should have, but it's a couple of dozen fewer than he had previously announced. The bad news is that democratic reform does not appear to be one of them. Indeed, the Prime Minister appears to have lost all interest in the subject. The "free votes" initiative failed at the first gate, when Liberal members were forbidden to stray from the party line on funding for the gun registry. Senate reform is nowhere on the horizon. And while several provinces are moving to fixed election dates, reforming the electoral system, or both, the Prime Minister continues to flirt with calling a snap election, for no reason other than partisan advantage. Another casualty: Reform of the process by which judges are appointed to the Supreme Court. Or at least, reform worthy of the name -- a process that would not only give the public a serious look at the character, qualifications and opinions of those called to sit on the country's highest court, but require that these appointments be ratified by their elected representatives. Yes, I'm talking about parliamentary review, or the "American system," as it is inevitably and disparagingly called. The Prime Minister has talked about allowing Parliament to review other major appointments, such as to the Bank of Canada (though even here the last word would be his). But he has been far less forthcoming with regard to appointments to the court. To be fair, Mr. Martin is hardly alone in quailing at the prospect of democratic oversight of what has until now been the prime minister's exclusive prerogative. The whole Canadian legal establishment appears to be having heart palpitations over this one. At a conference in Toronto on Monday, all manner of alternatives were tossed about, accompanied by any number of arguments as to why it simply would not do to let MPs question judges directly. Perhaps the justice minister could be called before a committee to explain why a particular choice had been made. Or a panel of jurists, academics, and other representatives of respectable opinion could make recommendations to the prime minister. Or -- my favourite -- MPs could interview the nominee, but in secret. Or ... What is it about the idea of questioning judges in public that causes such hysterics? That, after all, is what the judges themselves do: ask questions in public hearings. I suppose if trials were commonly held in secret, the same worthies would be telling us how it simply would not do to hold them in public, and for the same reasons: It would turn trials into a circus, good people would be deterred from participating, etc. For that matter, you could make the same arguments about elections. What runs through all of these arguments, other than an instinctive preference for the status quo, is a distorted vision, not only of the alternatives, but of how the present system actually functions. The notion that parliamentary review would "politicize" the process is a particularly risible example, to anyone familiar with the carnival of lobbying and counter-lobbying, logrolling and backstabbing that has attended past appointments. It's just that rather than being played out in public -- "the circus" -- it's all done backstage, where they use real knives. A recurring theme at the Toronto conference was that parliamentary review would threaten "judicial independence." If true, you would think this was an argument for removing the power of appointment from the prime minister altogether. But it's nonsense. Are we to suppose that the United States does not have an independent judiciary? Tell it to Richard Nixon. Or that the quality of appointees to their bench is somehow inferior to ours? Have you read a Canadian Supreme Court decision? The partisan show trials that cause such concern to the delicate are unusual, even in the States: that's why they are notorious. To the extent they occur, they reflect the genuine divisions that exist within American society, divisions that in this country are suppressed or ignored until they become cancerous. And while it is easy to fan oneself in alarm at the prospect of such political rough-and-tumble intruding into the hallow precincts of the law, the critics ignore the upside: a Supreme Court whose legitimacy is unquestioned, even in moments of crisis like the Florida recount. Actually, it wasn't a crisis, which is the point. That's not the case with our Supreme Court. In part, that's because the questions it is called upon to decide today, owing to the introduction of the Charter, are much broader than before. But in part it is because of a secretive, autocratic selection process that is out of keeping with the democratic temper of the times. You can see the judges feeling their way, tacking this way and that in an effort to avoid getting too far offside with public opinion. By "politicizing" the appointment process, on the other hand, we would confer upon the court a legitimacy it does not now possess, and with it the independence it needs. We would make the court less political, not more. Don't be afraid, Prime Minister. Jump in. The democratic water's fine. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:18:28 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: $6M worth of guns seized en route to N.Y. PUBLICATION: The Moncton Times and Transcript DATE: 2004.04.21 SECTION: News PAGE: D6 COLUMN: International PHOTO: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DATELINE: ROME (AP) ILLUSTRATION: An Italian Finance Police officer yesterday shows weaponsseized in a container including 7,500 Kalashnikov assault rifles from a ship headed for New York, in Gioia Tauro harbour near Reggio Calabria, southern Italy. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- $6M worth of guns seized en route to N.Y. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authorities in southern Italy seized about 7,500 Kalashnikov assault rifles and other combat-grade firearms from a ship headed for New York, officials said yesterday. The weapons - AK-47s, AKM rifles and machine-guns worth more than $6 million US - - were found mixed in with properly labelled guns in cargo containers on board a Turkish-flagged ship that docked at the port of Gioia Tauro, a police official said. Documents accompanying the cargo indicated the weapons were destined for a company in Georgia, the official said, declining to name the company. During customs controls in Italy, officials found that two of the ship's containers held combat-grade Kalashnikov rifles hidden under conventional firearms that included SKA rifles and Mauser rifles. The rifles were designated combat weapons because they had bayonets affixed and magazines that held up to 30 rounds, the official said. The official said police suspected the arms were being smuggled, and he declined to give the name of the company in Georgia, citing the need for secrecy during the investigation. The ship was travelling from the Romanian port of Constanta to New York. A 1994 ban prevents the U.S. gun industry from making, importing or selling military style semiautomatic weapons. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:19:18 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: PAIR CHARGED IN BAR HEIST PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 15 COLUMN: Sunflashes - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAIR CHARGED IN BAR HEIST - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morinville RCMP have laid charges after two guys staged a holdup at a bar in January while wearing cowboy hats, bandanas over their lower faces and carrying long-barrel handguns. The two raiders escaped from Jingler's Pub in Gibbons with a pile of cash after a stickup on Jan. 15, said police. Dennis Hermann Harpe and Robert James Burr, both of Hylo, have been charged with robbery with a firearm, disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence and use of a firearm to commit an indictable offence. Harpe is due in provincial court May 13. A court date for Burr has still to be set. Gibbons is 39 km north of Edmonton. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:20:35 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Column: While Martin recycles pledges of guns, Forces go without: PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: Final SECTION: Ideas PAGE: A15 COLUMN: Lorne Gunter BYLINE: Lorne Gunter SOURCE: The Edmonton Journal - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While Martin recycles pledges of guns, Forces go without: It's a common Liberal trick to approve new weapons but never fund them - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boy, when it comes to our military, the Liberals sure do love to practice the 3Rs of recycling: reduce, reuse and recycle. Whenever possible they reduce the size of our forces. They then force the remaining troops to reuse aging equipment way past the limits of its safe operation. And finally when pressure builds to do something - anything - to better outfit our soldiers, sailors and airmen, the Grits recycle the same procurement announcements over and over. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Perhaps that's why Prime Minister Paul Martin chose recently to subject soldiers at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick to a speech that was little more than a compost of old, decaying, oft-made Liberal pledges. So close to this weekend's Earth Day, perhaps he felt compelled by his commitment to the environment to practise the 3Rs on the Forces, again. He declared: "We are fast-tracking the purchase of the $700-million mobile gun system for the army. This is exactly the kind of innovative military capability the Canadian Forces require now and for the future." Martin's right; it is the kind of weapon Canada needs. But this is at least the fourth time in the past six months that the Liberals have promised to get right on the purchase of the Stryker Mobile Gun System, essentially a lightly armoured, eight-wheeled vehicle with a tank cannon on top. It is more manoeuvrable than a battle field tank, easier to lift into conflict zones around the world, cheaper to operate and an excellent support to assaulting infantry regiments. It is less "hardened" against attack than a full-fledged tank. But with the end of the Soviet threat, it is unlikely for a decade or two that we will encounter an enemy army with large, modern tanks. The Stryker is not a substitute for a new main battle tank (MBT). We will still, over time, need 50 to 100 of those in case we find ourselves up against enemies with tank-killer helicopters or their own MBTs, such as the People's Liberation Army of China. But in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Haiti, and on other similar missions, the Stryker is more appropriate. But the Forces don't need yet another nodding Liberal politician acknowledging the need for mobile guns. They need the guns themselves, or at least signed contracts and fixed delivery dates. Over the past 10 years, the Liberals have been notorious for announcing new equipment and then never quite getting around to ordering it. The promises aren't worth the breeze they're uttered on. Martin also assured his Gagetown audience that his government is "proceeding as quickly as possible on the purchase of new maritime helicopters," replacements for the embarrassingly decrepit and dangerous Sea Kings. That's the sixth such commitment on that one. Of course, the Forces would already have new maritime helos if the Liberals hadn't cancelled the EH101 contract a decade ago, at roughly the same cost of following through with the original purchase. Now we taxpayers are going to pay twice: once for the cancellation of the first contract and now, again, for new helicopters (presuming the Liberals actually follow through and buy some this time). The PM promised, too, new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft (the third time), a more active role for reservists (approximately every other year since the Mulroney era) and new joint support ships (JSS) for the navy. The standout on that list is the JSS, which the government does actually seem to be going ahead with, although -- again -- there are no contracts with a shipyard, yet. It is a common Liberal trick to pledge new weapons systems, even approve designs and talk about tentative launch schedules, then never quite get around to adding the money to the military's budget, which then makes the weapons unattainable. Such dithering delayed the delivery of a replacement for our woeful patrol vehicle, the Iltis, one of which was blown up in Afghanistan last fall with deadly consequences for the two soldiers inside. The military was ready to buy new patrol vehicles in 1999. But last-minute humming-and-hawing by the federal government caused so many delays that the manufacturer of the Forces' first-choice vehicle, the American Humvee, withdrew its bid, followed by Britain's Land Rover, the second choice. So our Forces will soon be saddled with another less-than-ideal patrol vehicle, this one from Mercedes-Benz. Three JSSs are foreseen. They would be excellent additions to the fleet. Large enough for up to 300 light vehicles and a whole battle group of soldiers and their equipment. Once they had landed their passengers and cargo, the JSSs could serve as off-shore command centres or hospital ships. Very clever. The Liberals even announced that a JSS could take our special forces commandos, the JTF-2, to a world hotspot, then serve as their floating base as they conducted mission after stealthy mission in the field. This is good news, as well. But just one question: Without a maritime helicopter, just how are our elite troops going to get from the ship to the fight? A JSS can get them close, but unless there are adequate helos on board, JTF-2 will just be bobbing there watching the action, as useless as if they were still at their Ottawa-area base. lgunter@thejournal.canwest.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:21:44 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Gun found after two men shot to death in Okanagan home PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: Final SECTION: WestCoast News PAGE: B2 COLUMN: News Update SOURCE: Vancouver Sun DATELINE: PEACHLAND ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo: Home where victims found shot to death - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gun found after two men shot to death in Okanagan home - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PEACHLAND - Police have recovered a gun near an Okanagan home where two men were shot to death over the weekend. "Someone did turn in a bag that contained a handgun," said Kelowna RCMP Constable Heather Macdonald. Police responding to reported gunshots found Peachland resident Anthony Joseph Gorkoff, 24, and Vernon resident Dean Raymond Desimone, 31, dead in an upscale home overlooking Okanagan Lake early Sunday morning. No arrests have been made. Police said the killings were drug-related and that the two men were known to police. According to court records, Gorkoff had been charged in late 2002 and was scheduled to appear in Kelowna provincial court in the next couple of months for one count of marijuana possession for the purpose of trafficking and one count of producing marijuana. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:22:17 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Man charged with murder; PUBLICATION: Yellowknifer DATE: 2004.04.21 BYLINE: Andrew Raven Northern News Services - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Man charged with murder; 55-year-old suspect was a former miner - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Yellowknife man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a 33-year-old man early Friday morning about 30 kilometres outside of the city. Timothee Charles Caisse, 55, was arrested and charged with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm after police discovered the body of David Austin in a small, wooden house just off Highway 3 at about 2 a.m. April 16. Firearm involved Police say a firearm was involved in the death, but won't confirm whether or not Austin had been shot. While police declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding Austin's death, a man who lives near the crime scene, and refused to be identified, said a man walked into his house early Friday morning. Police say they took a suspect into custody at a nearby residence, but couldn't confirm whether or not it was the neighbour's house. A woman and a man were also were taken into custody Friday for questioning, but were released without charge. RCMP Const. Kerri Riehl said they are not considered suspects. Used to work at Giant Caisse, who used to work at Giant Mine, lived in Yellowknife as recently as January 2003 with his wife and her elderly father. According to an article that appeared in News/North that year, Caisse is a 32-year veteran of the mining industry and was on long-term disability. Caisse made a brief appearance in territorial court Tuesday morning and was remanded into police custody pending his next court date. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:22:22 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Four arrested as police raid nets guns, drugs and cash PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: Final SECTION: WestCoast News PAGE: B3 COLUMN: Law and Order SOURCE: Vancouver Sun DATELINE: MAPLE RIDGE - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Four arrested as police raid nets guns, drugs and cash - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAPLE RIDGE - Two men and two women were arrested after police seized guns, drugs and cash from a house Tuesday. Officers confiscated a rifle and handgun, ammunition, methamphetamine and money, said Cpl. Dave Walsh of Ridge Meadows RCMP. Police are recommending charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of stolen property, possession of an unregistered restricted weapon and unsafe storage of firearms, said Walsh. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:22:44 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: 90 restricted and prohibited guns police found in his home PUBLICATION: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: A5 SOURCE: The StarPhoenix ILLUSTRATION: Photo: (Thomas) Vanin - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charges against ex-officer dropped after witness no-show for court - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Retired Saskatoon police staff sergeant Thomas Vanin was fined for driving infractions in Provincial Court Tuesday but saw the Crown withdraw more serious threat and prostitution-related charges after the main Crown witness failed to appear. Vanin, 60, pleaded guilty to having open liquor in his vehicle and to driving without reasonable consideration for others in relation to an incident Sept. 7, 2000. He was fined $175 and $150 respectively. Vanin was also charged the same day with communicating for the purpose of prostitution and with uttering threats. Crown prosecutor Perry Polischuk withdrew those charges Tuesday. The Crown alleged that Vanin communicated with a woman and threatened her male companion. That case could not be proven when the woman failed to show up for court, Polischuk said in an interview. Vanin pleaded guilty to the second part of the Crown's case against him, in which he followed at close range a vehicle occupied by the man and woman. The woman used a cell phone to call the police and the driver led Vanin to the police station, where he was charged with the two driving offences. Two other outstanding charges against Vanin were scheduled to be heard in Provincial Court on January 10. Vanin is charged with being in possession of property, in the form of documents, obtained by crime. Those charges are related to another criminal matter Vanin is awaiting trial on. He is scheduled to be tried in Court of Queen's Bench Jan. 3 to 7, 2005 on numerous charges of unlawful storage and possession of more than 90 restricted and prohibited guns police found in his home on Oct. 17, 2000. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:38:13 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Letter: Arctic sovereignty PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: National SECTION: Editorials PAGE: A19 BYLINE: Tim Baetz SOURCE: National Post - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arctic sovereignty - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your editorial shows a lack of basic understanding of the subject of military operations in a cold climate. As I learned in my winter indoctrination training in the Canadian militia, the use of an "antiquated, 70-year-old" rifle, which I presume is the Lee-Enfield, actually makes perfect sense. An automatic, smaller calibre "modern" rifle such as the M-16/C-7 does not have the range that the old .303 Lee Enfield does. In the Arctic, many of the shots would be at long range. Also, unlike the M-16, the Lee-Enfield would be useful to dispatch any big game animals used for food. The indigenous Ranger personnel use this rifle, so it makes sense from a training and logistical point of view that the regular forces carry it as well. Modern automatic rifles consume ammunition at a prodigious rate. On a long-range patrol, with little support, a rifle that is economical on ammunition is a better choice. We already have "cold-weather firepower." With respect to "sledging," the army uses white aluminum toboggans all the time, which are pulled by two people. The toboggans can also be towed. Tim Baetz, Toronto. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:39:50 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editorial: without individual property rights, wealth creation is an PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2004.04.21 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PNAME: Editorial PAGE: A20 SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reserving judgment: Prime Minister Paul Martin and aboriginal leaders spoke this week of a new future for Canada's aboriginals, but they won't create that future by clinging to the ideas of the past. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most entrenched of those old ideas is the Indian reserve. A think-tank report, "Apartheid -- Canada's Ugly Secret," was released just prior to this week's aboriginal summit in Ottawa. Its recommendation that Canada scrap the reserve system should not be dismissed out of hand by either the government or aboriginal leaders. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation's Centre for Aboriginal Policy Change, which prepared the report, didn't use the word "apartheid" gratuitously. Canada's reserve system was conceived as part of a racist policy that once restricted the movement of aboriginal people, denied them the right to vote and even regulated what they could drink and what pets they could have. Reserves will probably always be haunted by the authoritarian spectre of the Indian agent. But aboriginal leaders still cling to the reserve concept. "Reserves are all that is left of the land we used to occupy and possess, so we're not about to give up reserves," says Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Reserve land is usually not owned by aboriginal people, but by the Crown, and held in trust for aboriginal bands. This is paternalism, not autonomy. The taxpayers federation report argues that, without individual property rights, wealth creation is an uphill battle. But it also acknowledges that common ownership of land is valued in some cultures. So it recommends that reserve land be transferred to the aboriginal people living on it now, who would then decide whether to own the property individually or in common. The taxpayers federation has taken an interest in this issue because the federal government spends about $7.5 billion a year on aboriginal affairs, for which even the government admits it may not be getting the best value for its money. Also, aboriginal people living on-reserve are not subject to the same tax laws as most Canadians. Rates of unemployment, suicide and infant mortality are high on reserves. And aboriginal people who move off-reserve often have little to bring with them to help them start a new life. Some band councils have succeeded in fostering business and wealth, while some reserves have no resources to manage. On others improper management of resources has prevented any improvement in quality of life. The new Independent Centre for First Nations Government might improve accountability. But more fundamental change may be needed. Reserves remain vastly unequal: some are little pieces of the Third World, others are dotted with satellite dishes and swimming pools. Poverty among aboriginal people is a complex problem, and the simple act of getting rid of reserves is unlikely to solve it. But any solution is unlikely to work with the current reserve system in place. Mr. Fontaine and others spoke this week of scrapping the Indian Act and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. If aboriginal leaders are sincere about moving forward, they should also take a long, hard look at reserves. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #88 ********************************* Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:moderator@hitchen.org 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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