Editor:
I feel compelled to write comments regarding the recent supposed “free vote” in the House of Commons about this issue.
I am sure that everyone is as tired as I am about the debate around the gun control legislation and how it supposedly protects the average Canadian and the police, and we all know what a bunch of nonsense this notion is.
It makes as much sense as the idea that the police can protect the average citizen.
Let’s face it, any thinking person knows that the basic function of the police is to investigate crimes after the fact.
They simply don’t have the resources to be proactive as far as real crime goes.
They will tell you that themselves.
That’s why the propping up of this bureaucratic and costly gun registry of long guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens doesn’t make any logical sense.
The money spent in this ridiculous registry would be much better applied to hiring more police officers to enforce the laws that we have already in place and expanding the overburdened courts to handle criminals.
It might also be noted that in any of the polls that I have seen of the majority of Canadians (not politicians of course), about 85 per cent of the respondents wanted to see the long gun registry abolished.
Also of note is that regardless of the fact that I know our local MP was contacted by a large number of constituents regarding the vote in the House of Commons, he chose to ignore whoever wanted to see the registry abolished and voted to retain the long gun registry.
Robert J. Dunn,
Osoyoos

OSOYOOS TIMES-September 29, 2010

MLA RECALL IS POSSIBLE

Editor:
On Sept. 20, 2010, Bill Vander Zalm, the leader of Fight HST announced that his organization will proceed with the recall of 18 British Columbia MLAs in order to reduce the number of Liberal MLAs and change the balance of power in the B.C. Legislature so that the HST will be reversed and voided.
You may have read recently that our Premier, Mr. Campbell, has an approval rating around 12 per cent… perhaps about the same score he would get on a polygraph.
In the face of this public disaffection he threw us a carrot on the HST.
He’ll hold a referendum a year from now and if there is a simple majority of voters, he will throw the HST out.
Part of the problem with this offer is that we have to trust he’d actually do what he says.
How can we trust the Premier?
There are a few representations made in the recent past which have not been very accurate.
Here’s some of the most famous: Will not sell or privatize BC Rail; Will stop the expansion of gambling (2001); It (the HST) was not on our radar throughout the spring of 2009; I can tell you this: the deficit for 2009/10 will be $495 million.
It is apparent the Premier’s word can not be taken seriously.
Why would we trust him to throw out the HST when he doesn’t even have the legislative authority to do so?
Fight HST will move forward with recall and the MLA in our riding, John Slater, is one of the most vulnerable.
He garnered 6,681 votes in the 2009 election; the NO HST Petition had 8,712 valid voters’ signatures.
The threshold in a recall petition is high.
The signatures of 40 per cent of the registered voters at the time of the last election are required to recall the MLA.
Impossible you say?
Actually very possible, maybe even likely.
The NO HST Petition garnered over 12,000 signatures in Boundary-Similkameen, though some of these were invalidated by Elections BC; 11,495 signatures are required for the recall of Mr. Slater.
I encourage registered voters to ensure their signature counts by checking and noting their information on file at Elections BC to ensure it is accurate and the number of invalid signatures is reduced.
Please get involved by contacting the same local NO HST representatives or the Fight HST website and volunteering as a canvasser.
Don Rudzcki
Boundary-Similkameen
Recall Coordinator
Oliver

OSOYOOS TIMES-September 29, 2010