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 #902 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 Sunday, March 20 2005 Volume 07 : Number 902 In this issue: CPC policies Hunter road blocks Are they at the policy conference Transcripts often not easy PM's pledge to make West feel welcome has raised more questions ... PM's pledge to make West feel welcome has raised more questions Seal-hunt protests shunned My letter to the Halifax Daily News [LETTER] Gun crimes merit time Liberals set the mark for corruption Wolf season changes part of bad trend: NOSA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:12:48 -0600 (CST) From: Lee Jasper Subject: CPC policies Al commented: > What I have never been given is a real world translation of these > short paragraphs when I asked questions about specifics. Specifics in > regards to the nature of their proposed licencing. It's taken a while to get back, Al. I've been rather preoccupied putting my 'vulnerable sector screening' to good use. I advocate getting the written blurbs. And reading them verrry carefully. It's the best 'tabala rosa' we've got. From the 'semi-cast-in-stone' pronouncements it's often not too difficult to 'predict' what the CPC will probably try to sell to the electorate. Hearing 'oral' explanations of the written policies often has little bearing to what is actually sold to the public. Hearing oral pitches at in-house bashes is often so filled with rah rah as to be unbelievable. > Nor do I recall you publicly requesting the specifics from them or > providing us with said specifics if you have them. I have done exactly that. You have not read the previous posts in which I have provided feedback from policy conventions, meetings with my MP, feedback from Party staffers and tidbits from Tory and Harper meetngreet events. I've spent $275 (nicely tax deductible) over the past few months just to get access. I have dutifully reported these tidbits. It's all there on the CFD. But all that 'speculation' suddenly became rather moot. I am sure first-hand reports from conference attending RFC-CPC members, from bear-pit sessions and the convention floor, will fill-in the critical gaps. I hope listees realize what a crap shoot it is with policy proposals at Policy Conferences. The S/W Ontario CPC Region submitted some 112 policy submissions out of close to 600 from across the Nation. A National committee combined and reduced these down to a workable number for the convention. (Want to have real influence, get on the Nat Com). Local riding policy committees and joint riding committees developed these proposals over the past year. Policy 'suggestions' were further debated, refined and very importantly, ranked at local policy conferences prior to submission to the Nat Com. Many policy items have been 'burning issues' with Party Members for years. That's why I've supported the original 'Party Time' message, buy a membership, join an committee and go to conventions. Ontarians who watched the news of the John Tory by-election win, watched the victory dance which included the now leader of the opposition, John Tory, recent past Premier Ernie Eves and especially, long-time Premier Bill Davis (from the Big Blue Machine days) - and the 'conspicuous absence' of former Premier Mike Harris. The direction the Ontario PCs are headed can be forecast without a GPS. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:13:19 -0600 (CST) From: Lee Jasper Subject: Hunter road blocks > In a scathing criticism of Peel Regional police force, the court said > it was necessary to send a message that "institutional indifference" > to individual rights will not be tolerated. I'll bet the large group of hunters who were stopped on #11 north of Temagami wonder what they did to attract attention. > "The state interest in the investigation of crime and the > apprehension of criminals is sufficiently strong to justify the kind > of interference necessitated by a roadblock stop only where the > police have reasonable grounds to believe that a serious crime has > been committed and reasonable grounds to believe that the roadblock > stop will be effective in that it will apprehend the perpetrator," > Judge Doherty wrote. Is blaze orange attire, pickups, trailers carrying canoe, ATVs and other gear "reasonable grounds"? Was it the moose carcasses? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:13:55 -0600 (CST) From: Lee Jasper Subject: Are they at the policy conference > Canadian Outdoor Heritage Alliance > national organization that represents 230,000 hunters, anglers, and > trappers across the country. They're nearly as big as the other national gun org., the NFA. Anyone on the CFD a member? They're 3 x's as big as the OFAH; over 55 x's larger than the CSSA. Methinks they're bigger than the CPC. > "Why won't the government admit their error and end this travesty > now?" "Votes gained (from radical feminists, urbanites, émigrés to Canada, non shooters and gun owners, etc.) vs votes lost (to gun owners, hunters and trappers, some outfitters, some farm folk. etc.)." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:14:31 -0600 (CST) From: Lee Jasper Subject: Transcripts often not easy Ed asked in respect of Court of Queen's Bench Justice Frans Slatter . . > Any idea how we can get a transcript of this decision ?? Bruce suggested: > For a transcript, you'd probably have to contact the Court Clerk for > the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, and then pay for copying, etc. > > The "Reasons for Judgement" should be available on the ABQB website > soon. I keep looking but it's not been put up yet. The court folks sometimes make it virtually impossible. I once declined making a trip to Nova Scotia to personally present myself at the particular court to order, pick up and pay for a critical transcript. The court clerk insisted (and it was verified on the N.S. Justice(?) web site) that I could not order the transcript via credit card and have it mailed to me. Didn't have these difficulties getting transcripts from helpful court staff in Alberta. Online stuff? Remember that I could only find one 'Roszko' transcript. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:39:37 -0600 (CST) From: Dennis Young Subject: PM's pledge to make West feel welcome has raised more questions ... PM's pledge to make West feel welcome has raised more questions ... 940 News - Montreal,Quebec,Canada http://www.940news.com/news.php?cat=9&id=n032004A ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:41:45 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: PM's pledge to make West feel welcome has raised more questions http://www.940news.com/news.php?cat=9&id=n032004A PM's pledge to make West feel welcome has raised more questions than hope at 14:00 on March 20, 2005, EST. OTTAWA (CP) - It has been almost a year since Prime Minister Paul Martin stood in Saskatchewan and pledged that, like a strong Prairie wind, he would "erode" western anger towards Ottawa or count himself a failure. As Martin again toured the region this week, he may have regretted that vow as many people question what has really changed. Western voters clearly weren't convinced by Martin's promise, made in Regina shortly before the June 2004 election that reduced his mighty Liberals to a minority. And since then, many key concerns of the West have only worsened. The mad cow crisis grows deeper, threatening livelihoods across the Prairies and Ontario as the U.S. border remains firmly closed to live cattle from Canada. The cost of the softwood lumber dispute, centred in British Columbia, has reached the multibillion-dollar level and is steadily mounting as the trade war continues unabated. Social and justice issues from same-sex marriage to gun control still simmer on the backburner for many voters, waiting to boil up again. Add the fact that it has become difficult to even define what a diverse West wants, and the prime minister is left in the embarrassing position of facing bold commitments he just can't meet. "I think (Martin) has over-promised so much that he couldn't possibly deliver," says Paul Thomas, a political scientist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, especially being hobbled by a minority government. "(Successful politics) is about managing expectations and I don't think they've done a very good job." That's a common criticism of the rookie prime minister and his circle - grandiose promises that in reality are tough to keep. A health-care fix for a generation. A national day care program. And an end to western alienation. "I am proud to lead a government that is determined to address the very real sense of alienation that exists across the West," Martin boldly pledged last June in a province where the Liberal party later won just a single seat - Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's stronghold in Regina. "If I fail to forge a strong and lasting connection that reaches across the prairies, over the Rockies to the most remote island off the B.C. coast, then I will have failed as national leader," Martin said. "By the time I end my mandate and step down, as far as I am concerned the idea of western alienation must be gone." Brave words to a cynical public already deeply skeptical of politicians. Critics say Martin doesn't seem to realize that rural-urban splits now define western politics - a much different situation than almost 20 years ago when anger against central Canada coalesced under Preston Manning's Reform party and its rallying cry: The West Wants In. Rural Alberta voters likely have more in common now with small-town Ontario, while urban Calgarians are probably more comfortable with people in Vancouver and Toronto, says Mel Hurtig. "Sure, there are some people in West that still feel angry about Ottawa. . .but they tend to be in a minority," the Edmonton author said. "Today, we have to worry more about softwood lumber, the beef trade, plans by the Americans to establish a continental energy policy." Each prairie province has its own issues with the federal government now. Bugbears for Alberta range from anger over the national gun registry to the Kyoto environmental accord that worries Calgary's influential oil patch. Saskatchewan is fighting for an improved equalization deal - similar to what Martin recently gave Newfoundland's Danny Williams after a showy protest involving the Maple Leaf. And have-not Manitoba wants a stronger central government to buttress have-not provinces, as well as more help to cope with its burgeoning aboriginal population. Debbie Carlson, defeated Liberal candidate in the riding of Edmonton Strathcona, insists Martin has made a significant effort to hear and be heard by western Canadians. As proof, she points to Western cabinet appointments: Goodale in finance, deputy prime minister Anne McLellan of Edmonton, B.C.'s David Emerson in the Industry portfolio and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, also of B.C. "I actually feel like we're really being heard for a change," says Carlson. Skeptical Westerners will only be won over if their region triumphs in a major, national clash with central Canada - long seen as the roots of the federal Liberal party, says Winnipeg's Thomas. "The West will really believe that it's wanted when there's a clash between what Quebec wants or Ontario wants. . .and the West wins," says Thomas. "A few institutional gestures like a cabinet meeting in B.C., won't cure the underlying sense that we get short shrift in the national policy system." Many in the West originally warmed to Martin because they admired his fiscal conservatism and thought he represented a dramatic change from unpopular old Liberal policies, says Conservative MP Monte Solberg, who represents the southern Alberta riding of Medicine Hat. They're angry now because they don't see any real break from the Liberal past. "People think (Martin) is a disappointment. . .they thought he had a chance to do a pretty good job," Solberg says. "Now they're saying, 'Where did that guy go?' " ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:42:00 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Seal-hunt protests shunned http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2005/03/20/967077-sun.html Seal-hunt protests shunned INDUSTRY REGULATED, HUMANE: MP By CP PRINCE EDWARD Island Fisheries Minister Kevin MacAdam is calling last week's worldwide protests against the East Coast seal hunt a complete bust. MacAdam said the impact could be summed up in just a single word: "None." Anti-sealing activists organized protests at Canadian consulates in more than 40 countries, as well as in major centres throughout North America, but the March 15 turnout stirred little coverage. MacAdam added that even a visit to the Island earlier this month by Richard Dean Anderson, star of the long-running MacGyver and Stargate SG-1 television series, failed to revive the fortunes of a moribund protest movement. He suggested celebrity spokespersons such as Anderson could use their star power more productively by dealing with more pressing issues. "My point to Mr. Anderson would be there are a lot of people in the rest of the world who are concerned about Hollywood making money off violence," MacAdam said. MacAdam said Atlantic Canadians have every right to earn a livelihood from an industry that is "legislated, regulated and humane," adding the annual hunt provides jobs and a boost to the region's economy. As many as 8,000 of the 11,000 to 12,000 commercially licensed sealers in the Atlantic region are expected to hit the ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off Newfoundland at the end of the month or in early April. They include 17 licensed sealers from Prince Edward Island. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:54:43 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: My letter to the Halifax Daily News Just submitted, not yet printed. Have you written a letter today? - ----- Original Message ----- From: Bruce Mills To: Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2005 3:46 PM Subject: Re: Trudeau considered carrying a gun: book It's nice to know that Trudeau had the option of relying on a personal protection detail from the RCMP. But what about the rest of us peons? Why can we have one too? Since we can't, why can't we then carry arms on our person for our own protection? Contrary to what Mr. Simmonds may believe, it is not simply the "desire" to take care of oneself - it is our duty and responsibility to do so! Self defence is the sovereign right of every individual, no matter where they may be. Without having the most effective means with to secure that right at our disposal, the right itself becomes meaningless. Yours in Liberty, Bruce Hamilton Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:08:31 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: [LETTER] Gun crimes merit time http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Letters/ Gun crimes merit time Guns, guns, guns. Criminals are using guns on other criminals. Criminals are using guns on the law-abiding public, and criminals are using guns on those protecting and serving the law-abiding public. It is about time that the federal government steps in and imposes significant punishment on those who threaten us with guns as we go about our lives. Gun registration has proven to be nothing more than an expense to the taxpayer and no deterrent to the criminal. The time is now to impose and enforce harsh punitive sentences on those who commit crimes using guns. The message should be crystal-clear in Canada that if you use a gun while committing a crime, you will see the inside of a prison and enjoy a lengthy stay. The law-abiding public deserves that much and Canada's law enforcement officers deserve it even more. Adam Tabor Winnipeg Yes, and crack down too on thugs who use knives, bats, pool balls, cues, clubs, swords, vehicles, axes, hatchets, machetes, crowbars, screwdrivers, wrenches, hammers, chainsaws, broken bottles, brass knuckles, or any other potentially deadly objects in the commission of crimes. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:27:50 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Liberals set the mark for corruption http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=3a 666b28-50e7-4a96-b71d-370d658eb218 Liberals set the mark for corruption Gomery Inquiry shows this government even worse than Divine's in Saskatchewan Lorne Gunter The Edmonton Journal Sunday, March 20, 2005 I used to think the Saskatchewan government of Grant Devine was the most corrupt in modern Canadian history. Now I'm not so sure. Since moving to Montreal last month, the judicial inquiry into the Liberals' sponsorship program, headed by Justice John Gomery, has uncovered a networkof corruption so vast it tainted nearly every aspect of Ottawa's operations in Quebec in the 1990s. I'll admit it's hard to beat the Devine government. In their scandals (which mostly involved faking government travel claims and diverting the proceeds to party coffers and private accounts), 21 Tory MLAs or staff members were charged and 16 convicted. Four people served jail time, including the former deputy premier. And the Saskatchewan Conservative party was forced to disband in disgrace. But consider what Gomery has learned about the Liberals so far. Between 1994 and 2000, Ottawa, among other things, used the Business Development Bank of Canada -- a supposedly arms-length Crown corporation -- to funnel payments to a government-friendly television production company. Ottawa would pay the BDC hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the bank would pass the money on to the producers so it was harder to trace the money back to the government. This is the same federal bank pressured by then-prime minister Jean Chretien to lend more than half a million dollars to an associate of his in an unrelated Quebec scandal -- the Grand-Mere affair. The Chretien associate did not qualify for the loan, but Chretien wanted the bank to give it to him so he could keep open a hotel he owned next to a golf course Chretien owned. Under direct pressure from a prime minister, the bank relented. The Gomery commission has also heard of double-billing, over-billing, fake billing, expensive gifts, lavish trips, and even a "cigar club." It's bad enough the Adscam conspirators were bilking Canadian taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars (the sums in Devine's scandals pale by comparison), and diverting that money into Liberal campaigns, Liberals' friends' pockets and near-useless flag-waving events, they were also living large on the taxpayers' dime while plotting their schemes. Monthly, sponsorship players from within the Liberal government, the senior bureaucracy and Crown corporations would meet at fancy restaurants and private clubs in the Ottawa area to decide who got how much from the sponsorship scandals. While determining which friendly ad agencies to bestow commissions on and which events to grant funds, the Adscammers would eat multi-course gourmet feasts, smoke Cuban cigars and down expensive wines -- all on our tab, too, symbolically laughing at Canadians behind their backs. Quebec ad agencies used third-party companies to channel huge donations to the Liberal party and to prominent Liberal candidates. Others pressured employees to donate. Still other executives made employees contribute, then reimbursed them from company funds. Sponsorship contracts were dangled in front of ad executives as carrots for giving money to the Liberal Party. How could they resist? Forty percent "commissions" were common under the sponsorship scheme simply for passing on federal funds to real (if worthless) events. One executive, Jean Lafleur, handed out $31 million in federal cash over six years, of which he and his family were allowed to pocket $12 million personally. Gilles-Andre Gosselin dispersed $20 million and kept $8 million in just two years. In perhaps the most incestuous Adscam deal, Lafleur hired the minister who created Adscam, David Dingwall, to lobby the federal cabinet to give more money to VIA Rail, itself an Adscam player and recipient. In a twist of intrigue worthy of Kafka, sponsorship monies were paid to a sponsorship ad agency to pay the sponsorship program's founder to lobby the source of sponsorship cash -- Ottawa -- for even more sponsorship money for a Crown corporation that was already dispensing buckets of sponsorship cash. Over just seven months, Dingwall received $133,500 from Lafleur ($19,000 a month). There was even a half-million-dollar annual slush fund established within the sponsorship program to fund events primarily in Chretien's riding and the riding of Alfonso Gagliano, who replaced Dingwall as Adscam minister. And don't forget, while all this was going on, the HRDC scandal was also unfolding. Ottawa pumped more than $300 million in job-creation grants into Quebec in 1996-97 and set up what has been described as a "parallel, private government" to administer it. Before any Quebec company received HRDC funds, its request had to be vetted by Liberal party officials and riding executives. At one point, a Liberal party staffer was placed within the Quebec regional office of HRDC to review all job-creation funds. And all of that was on top of Grand-Mere and the grants and "loans" to Ottawa-favoured companies such as Bombardier and on top of the normal patronage orgy -- the appointments to federal boards and courts, the awarding of federal contracts, the subsidizing of local construction and so on. Not even at its most active and most arrogant was the network of corruption within the Devine government in Saskatchewan even a shadow of the web the Liberals wove within Quebec before and after the 1995 Quebec referendum. Their excuse has always been that it was about saving the country. Nonsense, it was all about enriching themselves and their friends. © The Edmonton Journal 2005 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 16:10:12 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Wolf season changes part of bad trend: NOSA http://www.chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=26322 Wolf season changes part of bad trend: NOSA By Bryan Meadows - The Thuner Bay Chronicle-Journal March 20, 2005 The Northwestern Ontario Sportsmen's Alliance is no fan of changes to the wolf hunting season in Northern Ontario. "(The changes) do more to decrease the overall quality of wildlife management in the province," president John Kaplanis said Friday. Beginning this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources will close the hunting and trapping season for wolves from April 1 to Sept. 14 in central and Northern Ontario. The restrictions also apply to coyotes due to the difficulty in distinguishing between the two species in the wild, the ministry said. The coyote season in southern Ontario remains open all year. Kaplanis said the "trend" to protect large predator populations like wolves and bears will do nothing to enhance the region's moose population and will only serve to cut into limited funding for other wildlife management. "If anything, more should be done to promote the hunting and trapping of wolves as is currently being done in Alaska in order to provide an overall balance between the predator populations and large ungulates like moose and deer," he said. While Northwest outfitters do book some U.S. tourists for wolf hunts, it's not known how many local people hunt the animals. "We really don't know how many (Ontario residents) hunt wolves," MNR spokesman Steve Payne said, adding that there's not a lot of data on wolf hunting. "We consider it opportunistic hunting," where hunters may shoot an animal if they come across it, Payne said. That is why mandatory reporting of wolf kills is one of the things being considered under the province's new wolf conservation strategy, he said. Resident hunters can currently hunt wolves under a small game licence. Meanwhile, tourist outfitters are also howling about the season changes. Walter Fleming, owner of Fleming's Black Bear Camp in Jellicoe, maintains that the lack of a spring wolf hunt and increased predation will eventually impact moose and caribou populations. "This is a dangerous animal," he said. Chris Lavoie, owner of Pine Acres Camp in Vermilion Bay, has said the wolf hunting season changes will hurt area tourism. He maintains the changes will "push away the American tourist trade." The spring wolf hunt is not the only activity being affected, Lavoie said, explaining that a major selling point of the September hunt was that U.S. hunters could hunt for wolf as well as black bear. "People who want to do a wolf and bear hunt in early September, can't now. We're going to lose hunters," he said. He said the cost of a wolf hunting licence for non-residents is also jumping "drastically" from $87.50 to $337.50. He said Ontario hunters will pay $10 more for a wolf licence. Kaplanis went on to predict that the "political expediency" of the wolf hunt changes will lead "to the next chapter in this story which will no doubt see (environmentalist) groups teaming up to push for an all out closure of wolf hunting and trapping provincewide." The wolf hunting changes have been endorsed by some environmental and conservation groups including the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. MNR staff continue to review public input on other proposals including developing and implementing a research and monitoring program for wolves; a requirement that wolf and coyote hunters purchase special game seals; and whether hunters and farmers who kill wolves or coyotes in defense of property should be required to report their harvest. Ontario's wolf population has been pegged at between 8,000 and 10,000. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #902 ********************************** 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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