Punished for gun registry votes

News — 09 November 2011

By Ally Dunham

Two NDP Members of Parliament, Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty, have been punished by their party’s interim leader, Nycole Turmel, for voting in favour of Bill C-19, “Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act”.

The Conservative government tabled C-19 for second reading vote on Nov. 1 which passed by a vote of 156-123. Hyer and Rafferty were two of the votes in favour of ending the registry.

“The gun registry has never been the issue. The issue has been knowing what the majority of my constituents want and standing up and supporting them; being their voice in Ottawa,” said Rafferty, MP of Thunder Bay-Rainy River. “It’s all been about the trust the constituents and I share with each other and honouring my constituents.”

Hyer, the MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North said, “I will lose my status as critic for Small Business and Tourism, Environment, Biodiversity and Parks and my membership on the environment committee is terminated.”

The MP’s not only lose their roles as critic and members of committee, they will also lose speaking privileges in Question Period as well as travel privileges outside of Ottawa and their riding.

“It’s two parts, one I won’t get any questions in Question Period and I won’t have any statements. I’ll still have an opportunity to speak and debate on some bills. Those lists of speakers are given to the Speaker and are decided by the party so in a number of ways, my voice has been silenced,” said Rafferty.

“For the foreseeable future, what ever that means, I will get no questions in the House and no statements in the House,” said Hyer.

In response to the punishments handed to them, Hyer said, “Well, it is fairly severe and it’s a decision by our interim leader, Nycole Turmel and I have to respect her decision. She’s our leader, and she does have the power to do this.”

“I’m not really thinking about it too much at all, I’m waiting to hear from the leadership to find out the answers to some questions,” said Rafferty. “About it being a whipped vote or not a whipped vote; that’s clearly unclear for me at the moment. Hopefully that will happen in the next little while.”

Conservative Kenora MP Greg Rickford has weighed in on the issue.

“The NDP has stated that the most fundamental aspect of being a MP is advocating for their constituents in the House of Commons,” said MP Rickford. “It is shocking that the NDP would effectively muzzle its own members for representing their constituents’ demands; stripping them of their critics’ roles and preventing them from speaking in support of their constituents in the House of Commons,” said Kenora District MP, Greg Rickford.

The bill is currently before committee and will see third reading in the House after passing committee. Following third reading, the bill will then travel to the Senate for debate and approval.

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