Gun ban group -- Grassroots organization or Liberal Party sock puppet?
No-Gun-No-Funeral is a group dedicated to having handguns banned outright in Canada. The group will apply pressure to the federal government.
It implies that it is a grassroots organization.
If so, why is it that the only information I can find out about this group points to the Liberal Party, both the federal and Ontario wings of the party. Very interesting is the fact that the phone number for the site goes to the riding association for Michael Bryant, Attorney General of Ontario, who has promised to lobby for a handgun ban.
Update: Attorney General Michael Bryant announces that No Gun No Funeral is his website.
Update: Attorney General Michael Bryant announces that No Gun No Funeral is his website.
By way of explanation for American readers. Michael Bryant is the attorney general in Dalton McGuinty's provincial Ontario government (a province being equivalent to a US state). Bryant supports a ban on handgun ownership, and would like the federal government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to confiscate all legally owned handguns, presumably using data in the federal gun registry to direct police to people's homes for confiscation. The Ontario Liberal Party currently forms the provincial government in Ontario. Equivalent to the Democrats. Federally, the Conservatives form the government. Closest equivalent is the Republicans. In the last federal election, Liberal leader Paul Martin lost to Stephen Harper despite Martin's promise to ban handguns in Canada, a promise that took even the Liberals by surprise. Recently Bryant coined the slogan "No Gun, No Funeral" and started handing out buttons. A couple of days ago, a website appeared sporting the phrase as the site's name, but nowhere on the site were links or mentions of any party or politician. Besides transparency, it matters because under various campaigning laws, a website determined to be a form of policital advertising must be accounted for in various funding reports and audits, and are also subject to certain controls. A site that is not considered political advertising has a great deal more freedom, and does not eat into the allowed advertising budget. In Ontario, Dalton McGuinty's government, including Attorney General Michael Bryant, will face the voters this coming October. The polls show support for the provincial Liberals slipping.
To see how the story has progressed (and it has), check out the follow-ups to the No Gun No Funeral story.
No Gun No Funeral is a new group with a website-slash-petition with a mission to eliminate guns:
We are a group of Canadians dedicated to tougher gun controls in Canada. In particular, we support recent calls for a national hand gun ban.
There are over half a million registered, legal privately owned handguns in Canada today. Thousands of those are stolen and end up on the streets of our communities. The recreational value of target shooting and gun collecting is just plain outweighed by the incredible risk to public safety posed by these weapons. How much more tragedy can we take?
That's why we are adding our voice to call on Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day, and the rest of the federal government to get out of the holster of the gun lobby, and enact a sensible, overdue ban on privately owned handguns.
Grassroots group? The description says they support the recent calls for a hand gun ban. Like someone else made the call for the ban, and these other people thought it was such a good idea that they created a website. But would it surprise you to learn that, in fact, this site is being run by the Ontario Liberal Party, and so is being run by the people who are making the call for the hand gun ban?
They are not supporting the call for the ban. They are soliciting support for the call they made themselves.
It certainly seems like this is the case. Of course, the site makes no such statement. It never makes mention of the Ontario Liberal Party, staying fastidiously apolitical. But under the covers, it has Ontario Liberal Party fingerprints all over it.
From the registration information:
Organization: Glenn Brown
Description:
Admin-Name: Glenn Brown
Admin-Title:
Admin-Postal: 509 St. Clair Ave West
Toronto ON M6B1A1 Canada
Admin-Phone: (416) 489-8683
Admin-Fax:
Admin-Mailbox: nikkiholland@gmail.com
Nikki Holland happens to be the name of the vetting director for the federal Liberal Party (Ontario).
It is also known as the Green Light Committee:
The Green Light Committee is comprised of nine Liberal party members from all regions in Ontario. The committee members are: Harmail Basi, Jean Jacques Blais, Meredith Caplan, Sheila Gervais, Nikki Holland, Jeff Kehoe, Brenda Kurczak, Chris MacLeod and committee chair, Jane Stewart. The mandate of this group is to vet potential candidates and ensure that their nomination forms are in order.
There's more on Holland. Check the updates below.
Another strange coincidence is that phone number: (416) 489-8683. It is the number for the St Paul's Provincial Liberal Association:
St Paul's Prov Liberal Assoc
942 Yonge
Toronto, ON M4W 3S8
(416) 489-8683
Michael Bryant is the Liberal MPP for St. Paul's. He is also the Attorney General of Ontario. Michael Bryant has called for a handgun ban:
The federal government is not committed to cutting off the gun supply, charged Ontario's Attorney General Michael Bryant, who is calling Ottawa to ban handguns outright.
Bryant is mounting a lobby campaign for Ottawa to implement a complete ban on all handguns.
Is No-Guns-No-Funerals part of that lobby campaign? Is it a cloak, to make a political operation by the Ontario Liberal Party appear to be an independent grassroots effort?
Heck, there is even a Glenn Brown in the Ontario Liberal Party. He is the Region Director for Area 2 in Toronto. Guess what riding is in Area 2. That's right, Michael Bryant's riding of St. Paul's. In fact, Brown is the riding president:
Glen Brown
grbrown@rogers.com
(416)455-4653
The address on St Clair West? It is an address that shows up over and over again for various left and far-left activist campaigns run by Homes Not Bombs. Their focus seems to be far afield: Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and such.
Why they should be connected through No-Guns-No-Funerals to Nikki Holland and Glenn Brown, who coincidently share names with executives with the federal and Ontario wings of the Liberal Party, and through that site be attached to a phone number that goes to the riding assocaition of gun-ban supporting Liberal Attorney General Michael Bryant...well...I guess coincidences do occur.
I guess.
I wonder where the money to create and maintain the website is coming from. Just asking. Of course, if the group or any of its officers were actually registered as a lobby group, that information would be transparent and available. The site doesn't list any officers. Just an email address to "info". What little I could figure out came from the registration information.
Update: The phrase "No Gun No Funeral" is actually Michael Bryant's:
Here in Ontario, we're lucky to have Attorney General Michael Bryant, who is a master of the clever slogan, the brilliant riposte and the bon mot when it comes to fighting gun crime.
This is important because clever phrases are an effective tool when it comes to stopping the deadly gang and gun violence in and around Toronto, as armed thugs shoot and kill each other and innocent bystanders in a war over turf and the drug trade.
That said, they're not quite as effective as clever slogans on buttons, and Bryant has that base covered too.
Just last week, this up and coming Liberal cabinet minister revealed to the Toronto Star -- where trial balloons by Liberals go to die -- that he has made up some buttons featuring the brilliant phrase: "No Gun. No Funeral" and now carries them around in his pocket.
But what is really at issue is that it looks like this organization is a political operation being run by the Liberal Party (and by Michael Bryant in particular), and not an independent and apolitical group that simply borrowed Michael Bryant's pithy phrase. The group is promising to apply pressure on the federal government, but does not seem to be registered in the federal lobbying database. It does not identify its apparent Liberal Party connections, does not explain how it is that Liberal Party executives who work with gun-ban proponent Attorney General Michael Bryant seem to be listed as running the site, nor does it explain whether it is Liberal Party money that is funding this, or funds from the Attorney General's office, or funds raised by other means.
Update: Apparently this doesn't contravene the Election Finances Act. A concerned citizen got in touch with Elections Ontario and got his reply:
Thank you for your e-mail concerning the www. nogunnofuneral.ca web site.
We thank you for bringing the matter to our attention but, after careful review, we have determined that no apparent contravention of the Election Finances Act has occurred.
Sincerely
Frank Dolhai
Manager, Election Finances
Elections Ontario
I still want to know who's paying for this. And there's the still the question of whether this is part of Bryant's promised lobbying campaign. Lobbyists need to be registered.
Update: The administrator of the Facebook group that mirrors the website is none other than Marc Andre Gendron, the VP of Communications for the federal Young Liberals of Canada.
You know, none of this would matter if they just plastered the Liberal Party "L" all over the place.
Update: That address on St Clair? It was also the mailing address for rabble.ca as recently as the end of 2006:
Thank you for your help,
the rabble.ca teamP.S. - Invite your friends to join rabble by forwarding this letter to them or by using our form: http://www.rabble.ca/tellafriend
Want to help but you're not a joiner? No problem! You can donate to rabble on-line at www.rabble.ca/donate or by sending a cheque to: rabble.ca, PO Box 73560, 509 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto ON M6C 1CO.
rabble.ca is, of course, is a socialist website and a strong site for online support for the NDP.
Now the rabble.ca website provides a mailing address on Spadina, so perhaps they've moved. Or maybe it is still a valid mailing address, since it goes to a post office box. It would interesting, though, if it turned out that the Liberals were lining up with the NDP, or at least with some leading NDP social activists, to run this site. And not just for the political linkage hidden behind this apparently apolitical site, but also for what reaction might happen among the NDP supporters on rabble.ca who usually have no time at all for the Liberal Party.
Same address but different postal code. What's up with that?
Update: Thanks to reader tori, we know more about Nikki Holland:
As a student growing up in Victoria, Attorney General Michael Bryant worked as a purser on a British Columbia ferry.
[Two] of Bryant's key staffers have new hobby jobs.
Nikki Holland, his director of operations and stakeholder relations, will be the chief returning officer for the federal Liberals' leadership race to be determined in Montreal on Dec. 2-3.
So Nikki Holland, who has the administration mailbox for the No-Gun-No-Funeral website, is Michael Bryant's director of operations. Does that make this website an operation of the attorney general's office? It certainly seems to be run from Michael Bryant's riding association.
Update: If you're interested, I'll be discussing this story with Roy Green on AM talk radio stations of the Corus Radio Network, starting just after 3pm Eastern, broadcasting from British Columbia to Quebec.
Update: I did a reverse lookup for the IP address for No Gun No Funeral and discovered it was being served out of a Quebec IP location for Voyages Gendron. Voyages Gendron is a travel agency run by Bernard Gendron. It is likely, though, that he did not set up the server, but rather his IT manager did. His IT manager is Marc-Andre Gendron, the VP of Communications for the federal Young Liberals of Canada
Update: Like several other people, I took time to phone the number provided for the site contact, and the person who answered said "Michael Bryant Election Campaign". Odd. So I asked where would I send a cheque. After a moment, another woman came of the phone. Send it to 700 St. Clair Ave West, at Christie. But that's not the address for the contact, nor is it for the riding office, but the person on the phone identified the location to send the cheque as the riding association. Maybe she was having some fun with me, since it is an address for Queen's Dairy Restaurant. I have my suspicion that the registration information is not factually accurate, and that it has nothing to do with the activites that we know have taken place at 506 St Clair Ave. Providing factually incorrect registration information is grounds to deregister a domain name. Hopefully the people behind No Gun No Funeral sort out the details before all their hard work is wiped away.
Update: So what information can we trust? For me, the key thing is the reverse IP address lookup. It definitely links the domain to Voyages Gendron, where Marc-Andre Gendron, the VP of Communications for the Young Liberals of Canada, is the IT Manager. The IT Manager is certainly capable of setting up the domain nameserver at Voyages Gendron to resolve the domain name. I can't think how to fake that. So that would suggest that all the information that links the site to the Liberals (federal and Ontario) is probably accurate, and that any information that would suggest other parties involved (the NDP, rabble.ca, Homes not Bombs, and so on) is suspect. Maybe it is an attempt to throw off the scent for people doing a low intensity evaluation of this site, or at least dilute the appearance of Liberal Party control. Could it be a joint effort? Anything is possible, but then why is the wrong information provided (the correct postal code for the address is M6C 1A1, ot M6B 1A1, and of course, the phone number that goes to the Michael Bryant election campaign) for a joint effort? [Or it could just be a set of post office boxes used by all these completely unrelated organizations. That would be the simplest explanation, and would make the address irrelevant.]
Update: I guess after all that, Michael Bryant had not choice but to announce that No Gun No Funeral is his website.
See also the Nexus.
If you are interested in listening to the radio spots done on this issue, you can access the CHQR Audio Vault (free subscription required):
- August 17, 1pm segment, starting at 7:10
- August 18, 1pm segment, starting at 46:33
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Comments
Looks and smells like some sleight of hand.
If they want to be "grassroots", they need to ditch the birkenstocks and lattes for workboots and Timmies for about, say, 20 years.
As a firearms owner I can appreciate people's genuine concern over the issue and feel sympathy for the families. However, that gets curtailed PDQ whenever it is "hijacked" for political hand-wringing and finger-pointing.
Yep, Liberal "blame the other guy" shows up once again.
The CPC has some workable solutions...if the Liberal Senators would quit stonewalling.
I suppose the "closet Conservative" is coming out in the Liberals and maybe even some admiration for the CPC. Afterall, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Posted by: Pete S. at August 16, 2007 08:27 PM
*
No Guns, No Funerals, huh?
Tell that to Ross Hammond's widow.
*
Posted by: neo at August 16, 2007 08:50 PM
Bryant, eh? No wonder. He's the biggest cretin in Ontario politics. A politician so scuzzy, imbecilic and without a shred of morals that he makes a rat look good. I just hope the people in his riding will show some intelligence and vote him out, otherwise they'll be poster children for cleaning up the gene pool.
I used to think Smitherman was the biggest shite in Ontario politics. Bryant takes the cake.
Hey Bryant, you can have my guns... just grab them by the barrel and look into the hole while I pull the trigger. Frigging butthole.
Posted by: Anon at August 16, 2007 09:04 PM
http://thestar.blogs.com/notebook/2006/03/how_the_ag_used.html
Posted by: tori at August 16, 2007 09:37 PM
WOW Anon...you Liberals sure do get steamed when you get exposed.
Such bitterness and underhandedness. Posing as a firearms owner, shame on you. Most firearm's owners I know, and I know quite a few, KNOW that spewing that sort of hatred is not acceptable. Most responsible firearms owners know that our published sentiments have to be worded to get the point across without such inappropriate, liberal, phraseology.
I think you owe Steve an apology. Firearms owners too. I suppose you could resign as the AG over this...and save us the trouble in October.
Pete S.
Posted by: Pete S. at August 16, 2007 09:50 PM
the accompanying facebook group...one of the admins:
http://www.ylc-jlc.ca/executive_e.aspx?id=15943
Posted by: tori at August 16, 2007 09:54 PM
Anyone who thinks the Ont. Liberals are above using stupid, sneaky tactics to get their way probably hasn't been paying much attention to Dulton McRumpy's soundbites. Dole out welfare. Whine about how if "someone" wasn't ripping off your government so much with transfer payments, you could give out a lot more welfare. Demonize a group of marginal, unpopular misfits (or their dogs) and threaten them with draconian laws. Repeat.
But to be fair to the losers running the province, they're basically the same as every other Ontario government of the last 35 years or so. Just a little bit more desperate and seedy-looking. Which probably isn't due to any particular traits of the party or the leader. The general slide into socialist have-not-ism and political infantilism would have led the leader of any of the current provincial parties to adopt the same angry, whiny, fraudulent agenda. When money is tight there are only so many ways you can feed a big, fat, government salami to people.
Posted by: at August 16, 2007 09:56 PM
True liberals, all of them. Blame honest people instead of the pond scum that commit these crimes. They don't have the stomach to face criminals head on, so they blame you and me.
Posted by: Larry at August 16, 2007 10:03 PM
I'm amazed some of the other anti-violence groups haven't contacted the media. I would be horrified and outraged if i'd lost a family member to a knife attack and bryant was screaming 'no guns no funeral'. How utterly disrespectful and dehumanizing to others who have suffered at the hands of violent criminals.
More like no guns = no photo op.
Posted by: Warren at August 16, 2007 10:04 PM
So what, Wanke? We all know REAL Women of Canada, Focus on the Family Canada, Civitas and Curves (your fitness centre) are just sock-puppets of the Conservative Party.
And there's tons of information out there to prove. TONS!
Posted by: Anry on a Great White Toilet at August 16, 2007 10:04 PM
makes ya think Warnout Kinsella's finger prints are all over this.
Sounds like a mini Ad Scam style abuse of governmental power and taxpayer's money.
Good call . . just in time for the election.
Posted by: Fred at August 16, 2007 10:08 PM
Hey AGWT,
Gee, of those names, I don't see anything politically motivated to use the deaths of real people as their soapbox.
I'd swear that, from their behavior, gun-grabbers just circle like crows and buzzards praying for their next meal(ticket) to fall.
Pathetic, really.
Posted by: at August 16, 2007 10:35 PM
Fantastic post Steve!
Posted by: Reader at August 16, 2007 10:38 PM
AGWT
Are you speaking english? Your post is gibberish.
This article is about exposing the liberal party for the fraud that it is. Your disjointed sentence structure and ridiculous postulation of some 'magical facts out there' really belies an ignorance that could only belong to a 3rd grader.
Posted by: missing link at August 17, 2007 12:29 AM
Lets be honestly concerned here that the real issue is that tax payer funded resources might be used for partisan purposes just as the federal Sponsorship program was used to fund Liberal election campaigns.
Now for the purely partisan comment:
If McGuinty wasn't concerned about the conservatives gaining ground on him, why the sudden hard right turn (i.e.: crack down on street racing)?
But I digress.
Its true that since the last election Dalton's government has been crying poverty and blaming anyone within range for Ontario's financial woes. But this sword can come back hard when its shown that that regime was fast and loose with the tax dollars while crying that the cupboard was bare.
All I can say is that Kinsella is going to have to work extra hard to earn his keep this time around....and if Dalton goes down in a ball of flame you can bet all the bridges Warren wants to use for an excape route will be burned by the Martinites.
Posted by: gimbol at August 17, 2007 06:17 AM
Earlier in the week, McGuinty was claiming the United Nations had endorsed his government.
This politician will say anything or do anything.
Posted by: Here and There at August 17, 2007 07:05 AM
Anyone who advocates gun bans of lawfully owned civilian firearms by extension advocates civil disarmament and banning the right to lawful armed self defense.
In a world of armed criminals and terrorists where police are not liable for your persoonl safety, the kindest word for this is politicized wickedness but it is better known as statist fascism.
.......From my dead cold hands fascists!!!
These groups need to be closely watched...I'll wager that the 5th column of this nations enemies want a disrned vulnerable citizenry and are not above funding the useful idiots who advocate for such social evil.
Posted by: WL Mackenzie Redux at August 17, 2007 07:51 AM
I'm sure most people here remember Paul Martin's promise to ban handguns (if reelected) in late 2005. Not long after, there were stories in the news of a noticeable spike in handgun purchases in Canada.
Recently, a friend of mine is just getting into competitive pistol shooting. As such, he has been on the Internet looking at gun stores and talking with gun dealers all across the country. He reports two things:
1 -places that sell handguns do not have much time to talk to you on the phone. It's not that they don't want to -it's that they are simply too busy.
2 -in spite of all the hoops, headaches and red tape involved in being a firearms dealer, there are actually more gun dealers going into business in the last couple of years.
Now when you consider that gun owners have been widely vilified since the Montreal massacre and that hunters are being looked down on more and more as the country gets more urbanized -why are people -in increasing numbers- going through all the hassle of acquiring and owning firearms ?
Granted, this is all anecdotal information -I haven't bothered to look at statistics -I tend to trust my lying eyes (or a trusted friend's lying eyes) rather than the latest sci-fi from the Coalition for Gun Control.
But still...
As the aforementioned friend pointed out, "He (Bryant) probably realizes that if he wants to ban them, he'd better do it now, because the way things are going in this country -in a few more years he won't have a hope in hell".
Posted by: up north at August 17, 2007 09:19 AM
As the aforementioned friend pointed out, "He (Bryant) probably realizes that if he wants to ban them, he'd better do it now, because the way things are going in this country -in a few more WEEKS he won't have a hope in hell".
up north - Fixed that for ya. Cheers
Posted by: Peter S. at August 17, 2007 09:24 AM
Janke, this is why you remain one of the best investigative political blogs within and without the BT roll. A truly excellent piece of work.
Posted by: mark peters at August 17, 2007 11:33 AM
I find the statistics amazing!
30% of gun crimes are committed with a legally owned but stolen firearm.
If Ontario has a population of 12,754,000 people and there are 215,000 registered handguns in the province (just to use these numbers for simplicity's sake) than that means gun thieves are somehow effectively and successfully targeting a mere 1.7 percent of the province's population!
They must either be extremely lucky or else have an excellent avenue of intelligence regarding Ontario gun owners! What are the chances eh?
(Hmmmm, or maybe they're just getting a look in that little binder tossed under the counter where you go to buy ammo. Y'know, the one that lists the name, addy, PAL#, calibre and amount of ammo that a person buys as per the Ammunition Regulation Act, 1994 of Ontario?)
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statut ... e.htm#s4s1
Posted by: Sentinel at August 17, 2007 12:28 PM
No it isn't a truly excellent piece of work. It is garbage.
Where in any of that website does it claim to be anything but a "group of Canadians"? You are the ones inserting the word "grassroots".
More importantly, so what? Janke tries to make the claim that they should be registered as lobbyists. Steve, don't embarrass yourself. You only need to be registered as a lobbyist if you are, well, a lobbyist, i.e. trying to influcence government decisions for "payment of a fee". God help us if normal public policy advocacy required lobbyist registration.
But according to Janke here, only Liberals want gun control and if you are affiliated with the Liberals then everything you do must be a government action.
What a joke.
Posted by: Ted at August 17, 2007 12:33 PM
Sorry, bad link:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_94a20_e.htm#s4s1
Posted by: Sentinel at August 17, 2007 12:39 PM
Where in any of that website does it claim to be anything but a "group of Canadians"? You are the ones inserting the word "grassroots".
More importantly, so what?
Sigh! I wondered how long it would take for Ted (Canadian Cerberus) to show up and spout his usual inanities. As usual, he doesn't get it. When you are trying to lobby for a certain legislative agenda, which Bryant and his fellow Liberals have an absolute right to do, it is quite impressive to actually be a grassroots non-partisan organization. It is far less impressive to be a partisan organization. To pretend to be the former when you are really the latter is sleezy and dishonest.
Posted by: at August 17, 2007 01:18 PM
By the way, mine is the above anonymous post. I forgot to add in the identifying information. Sorry about that.
Posted by: Brian in Calgary at August 17, 2007 01:20 PM
Don't worry Ted,
One day something that you care about will be in their sights and they will try to employ the same deceit to force it down your throat...against your will.
Reject this insanity now or pay later...
Firearms owners warned years ago about a "bad" law and were marginalized or poo-pooed.
Sustitute "firearms" for "car" or "boat" or "BBQ" or "dog".
Looks silly, right now. It won't be as "silly" when it affects your life and someone wants to "control" or "socially-engineer" you.
"Nanny" says they'll be there for you when it's time. Ask the citizens of New Orleans where "Nanny" was when the levees failed...or those victims who have died, waiting, AFTER they called 911.
There are reasonable solutions out there. Liberals don't want them, it infringes on their "raison d'etre".
If you want to listen to their deceit, your choice.
Steve brings things to our attention so we are informed. What's your contribution? Huh?
Posted by: Peter S. at August 17, 2007 01:25 PM
I love it when Liberals come on and say "so what" to truly sleazy behaviour.
Gold I tell ya, Gold!!
Posted by: at August 17, 2007 01:28 PM
brian,
exactly! they have every right to put up whatever site they want. The problem I have is that they are trying to pass off the site as something put together by ordinary concerned canadians when in seems this may not be the case
Honestly, if they had just put up a Liberal logo, this would not bug me in the least.
This way just looks sneaky and underhanded and now makes me wonder if tax dollars are paying for this.
For a party that is trying to run on openess and accountability, I'd say it is failing miserably.
Posted by: tori at August 17, 2007 01:35 PM
Why is it the Liberal way to make these suggestions, but attach no fiscal plan for the costs of a handgun ban? The ban is a ridiculous suggestion, and it would not change crime in Canada one iota. That said, there are actually 1.1 million handguns legally registered in Canada, and the costs of destruction would be at the very least $500 per gun, without compensation! What politicians goes into an election promising to spend $500 million on a project that will not contribute to criminal control: Bryant and McGinty
Where is the accountability for such outlandish promises?
Posted by: Lionel at August 17, 2007 02:37 PM
So the site is located at the same place as rabble.ca, a group that is most assuredly not the Liberals, and the website was designed by some Liberals... and no one here is smart enough to figure out that maybe just maybe Rabble and NDPers might not want to be seen supporting the Liberal Party but they will support this initiative?
Posted by: Ted at August 17, 2007 03:14 PM
Ted,
If...if...I was a Lib (forgive me father...for I have had an impure thought...) I sure wouldn't want my name traceably attached to another "opposing" political organization. That would be suicide.
...at least in this case it wouldn't be with a gun.
BTW, your fire extinguisher is running low...and your pants are on fire.
Posted by: Pete S. at August 17, 2007 03:21 PM
Congratulations, Steve, not only on this post, but also on your interview with Roy Green. As another commenter stated, yours is one of the best investigative blogs around.
Posted by: Gabby in QC at August 17, 2007 03:55 PM
"It would interesting, though, if it turned out that the Liberals were lining up with the NDP, or at least with some leading NDP social activists, to run this site."
That would be interesting, because it would completely invalidate your claim that only Liberals are behind this site.
Posted by: Saskboy at August 17, 2007 04:17 PM
I called up Michael Bryant's campaign office, and they claim the website isn't part of his campaign.
It just happens to have sprung up during an election during which Bryant is campaigning on pushing for a federal handgun ban.
Yay, coincidence!
Posted by: Patrick Ross at August 17, 2007 04:19 PM
Yes Saskboy it would invalidate it.
It might show though that something is being hidden from the general party memberships of BOTH parties. Of course, I am speculating out loud.
With elections looming (Provincially), or the possibility of (Federally), The NDP and Liberals really WANT their members questioning them about what's REALLY going on. Whether it's Fed or Prov is irrelevant when you do the "Name Brand" association game.
If the membership falls into doubt and lose confidence they'll look elsewhere. Kinda hard to get any seats when your supporters don't trust you anymore.
IIRC the May/Dion "alliance" jammed in some nice rifts/in-fighting and cast some doubt. Why not the Libs and NDP too?
Geeeee, random thought here, What if this "theoretical joint venture" is a "test of the waters" to a future Lib/NDP gangup Federally and the "experiment" is being run "distanced" from the Federal Parties to see how it works out?...
Posted by: Pete S. at August 17, 2007 04:51 PM
Well,
That makes it somewhat more interesting.
I do wish someone would come forward and clear this up.
It still does appear to leave the Liberals holding the bag.
Oh well, theories about things get tossed everyday when something shows it to be inapplicable.
Posted by: Pete S. at August 17, 2007 05:02 PM
It looks like you have forced his hand, Steve, on the site now, under What's up, there is a Sun news article where Bryant claims the website is actually his.
Heh, heh.
Posted by: muttsrus at August 17, 2007 05:39 PM
So according to Ted, there was nothing wrong here. Looks like even Bryant disagrees with Ted, or he would not have come forth to correct his ommission.
Posted by: ward at August 17, 2007 06:25 PM
...holy frack, where'd all the people come from???
Oh, SDA linked in.
;-)
Posted by: tomax7 at August 17, 2007 10:40 PM
I signed the petition, because even an Africa Dictator needs to be heard, especially where guns are involved. Please send me more guns and I will forward to you my cousin the Nigerian Oil Minister's secret bank funds.
Posted by: Robert Mugabe at August 20, 2007 11:26 AM
Took this poor old New Mexican a second to figure out what no guns no funerals meant. I had no idea that all Canadians die of hand gun wounds. I suggest that many of you might wanna come down here, as most of us die of natural causes.
Posted by: David at August 20, 2007 11:46 AM
Nice peice of detective work. Just a couple of points;
There can be no compromises on this, any tightening of gun laws is another part of your inalienable right to self defence denied you.
as an unarmed victem you will be easy prey for crimminals who take no notice of any law, gun law or otherwise.
Britain tried the handgun ban, a little island, no land border (well, only to the rep of Ireland) handgun crime has more than doubled since the ban,
even in the mid 90's the US burglary rate was 1/2 Britain's, the US crime rates have continued to drop, britain's to increase. I think Britain's murder rate is now higher than the US
You all know the story... most US murders occur in inner city 'hoods with gun bans...
Britain's criminals are using the latest and best guns; selective fire Uzis and AKs, these were never on certificate or stolen from civilians. they come in thanks to the high profits of the drugs trade.
Keith
Posted by: Keith at August 21, 2007 05:18 AM
 
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