We now know that the gun-ban-promoting website NoGunNoFuneral was created by Michael Bryant in order to drum up support for his handgun ban idea.

We found that out only by studying the registration information. Nothing on the site even hints at a political motive or a party affiliation. This despite the fact that the phone number listed on the registration record is answered by the "Michael Bryant Election Campaign".

Michael Bryant insists that no Liberal Party or constituency resources were used to create the site. But then there is nothing on the site to say who exactly did create the site. Normally a web design company will insist on putting a link to their company in a "Designed by" blurb at the footer of each page.

This site? Nothing.

With all due respect to Michael Bryant, I think he had help.

In studying the code associated with the website, I discovered this file:

// JavaScript Document <!-- function MM_preloadImages() { //v3.0 var d=document; if(d.images){ if(!d.MM_p) d.MM_p=new Array(); <...snip...> //-->

Nothing scary here. Just the typical bit of Java code for preloading images and such.

But the name of the file is the key: "juntos".

Juntos is the name of a communications consulting firm run by Marc-Andre Gendron, the VP of Communications for the Liberal Party of Canada. Gendron is likely the person who set up the server for NoGunNoFuneral.ca based on the reverse IP lookup, since the lookup traced back to Voyages Gendron, the travel agency owned by Bernard Gendron, where Marc-Andre works as the IT Manager.

Did Juntos build the website for Michael Bryant? The funny thing about Juntos is that the website for the company provides only a phone number and an email address, both of which belong to Marc-Andre Gendron (the email address uses his name, and Gendron provides that phone number when contacting him with regards to his role as VP for the International Federation of Liberal Youth).

I should also point out that the two sites share many of the same support files.

So what does Juntos do? Well, this is a communication consulting firm run by a guy who specializes in IT work and is very aggressive in using the internet, and especially websites, as a political communications tool. For instance, Gendron was the fellow behind ecofraud.ca:

This web site was built on a boring, rainy weekend by a Montreal student who also works as a communications consultant. He is very concerned about the lack of leadership of his federal government over the fight against climate change and thought this parody would help raise awareness over the issue. He begs you to take action and send this site to your friends.

He thinks that political involvement is the best way to remedy to the situation and should mention, for the sake of transparency, that he is an active member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Should you like this stuff, he is also available to hire if you have a good cause or a lot of money.

Gendron also registered the domain ecofraud.ca.

The "student" is Gendron (check the email link on that page). To say he is an active member of the Liberal Party is to be modest to the point of nearly being misleading. Remember, he is a Vice President of the Young Liberals of Canada at the national level. That's pretty active, eh?

But as with No Gun No Funeral, there is a tendency to obscure the true level of Liberal Party involvement. With ecofraud, it is only a half-hearted attempt. With No Gun No Funeral, the attempt is more rigorous.

Gendron will build other sites for you. He will do it if (a) he likes your cause, or (b) you pay him a lot. I think it's safe to say that he likes the Ontario Liberal Party, Michael Bryant, and the principle of a blanket handgun ban. If that's the case, he might likely have donated the labour to make the website and to register it and set up the nameserver. How much is that labour worth? Well, ask him to make a website that argues against further gun contol laws, and see what he quotes as his price (as per option (b)).

The reason I ask is because if the issue of whether No Gun No Funeral constitutes political advertising is revisited, the answer to the question of how much the labour is worth might become important.

One more thing. How does Marc-Andre Gendron make money with his business? There is nothing on his site that explains what Juntos does. I've read on other sites that Gendron runs a communications strategy business on the side, and I've inferred that this is, in fact, Juntos. But to that point, I can't find any advertising for Juntos. It doesn't seem to be registered as a corporation with the federal government. According to Google, there is not a single backlink to the Juntos website (there will be one from this site once this article is scanned by the Google spider). There are no meta tags that would tell a search engine what this site is about. The only clue is the tagline (the only text on the entire page besides the title and the contact info):

together, online

What does that mean? Is this a company specializing in connecting like-minded people using websites? I suppose. It fits that data. Strange though, that a company that seems to be about establishing a web presense to connect people together is itself almost a nonentity online.

I suppose if there is some group of people who know about the company, perhaps through personal connections with Marc-Andre Gendron based on shared interests of some sort, and if these people use Juntos over and over again for special projects, he wouldn't need to advertise. Including not having to put "Designed by Juntos" anywhere on any site he worked on.

Assuming he designed the site, that is.

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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