The Canadian Election

[Lynn Eades]

Hey guys I,d be more concerned with whats happening with the U.N. as far as your right to own firearms goes. my personal experience has been that most firearms (military)guys are happy to spend $500 or $1000 on another gun, but are too tight to spend 10 cents on fighting for the right to keep them. There is a massive move through the U.N. to dis-arm us all, and the only hope for us is unity, which tends not to be part of the thought process of the average collector who tends to be more focussed on screwing his mate over the next "deal".
....................(...take a deep breath........now cool down.....)....
.....Sorry guys, I think you hit a nerve.....

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

As I recall, the purpose of the gun registry was to reduce crime. Not many of us saw the connection, but the Liberals made the connection anyway.

Now, years and billions of dollars into it, the gun crime rate has gone up. Using the connection they made, it follows the gun registry is a failure that increased crime.

How-oh-how as a Liberal do you reconcile this? Easy. The crime rate went up, but had there been no registry, the rate would have gone up many times more. Aren't you lucky the registry was in place to prevent this?

Silly, because of course this implies the registry just coincidentally occured at the beginning of an unprecedented crime wave.

But it has nothing to do with this. The Liberals have a one way, get rid of guns agenda. As it's not stated, does this make it a hidden agenda? Oooooh!!

Gun crime in Toronto is a result of failed social and imigration policies. To admit that would place blame where it is not welcome. Better to strip rights and confiscate a 1917 Webley revolver from an owner who's cared for it for decades in Winnipeg.

I hope that the Liberals get booted so far from office they never see Parliament Hill again except on a post card. Second best would be that enough people are so mad at the failed registry that this new policy backfires. If nothing else, it tells me the Liberals have decided getting the Toronto vote is more important that a single nod from anything west of there.

Now, changing gears, can I mention that these are the same guys who swiped millions of dollars, not to line their own pockets (that would have been honest greed), but to influence an election?????

Then, the final straw. Election signs are now beginning to appear on front lawns. The first word on the Liberal sign is 'integrity'.

Arrrrggggggggggggggg.

[Barry Churcher]

I heard on my way home tonight that Toronto radio station CFRB had a poll about the latest Liberal chicanery. 95% of the people who phoned in agreed that banishing handguns wasn't the answer. Encouraging?
Barry

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

My son was looking at the Globe and Mail (web)'discussion' on this and found something similar. There were about a hundred and fifty responses, running about 98% against this goofy policy. Oddly, those who had an argument againt banning hand guns gave a name. Those few who were in favour of banning them ("guns are only for killing") to the one identifed themselves only as "HJ" or "GF".

Interesting...

[alleramilitaria]

2 or 3 years ago the UN tried to pass a resolution to ban all private gun ownership in the USA. now we know who the stupid people are. and by the way if you want to see something great look at the crime rate in Washington state. they liberalised the carry policy for handguns and the crime rate dropped like a rock!!!

[hairbear]

if the wackers made the punishment for the misuse of guns more, min 10y for use in crime .crime,s love tight gun laws makes it harder for lawabiding to get the gun out of safes trevor

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Martin made this statement as a drooling idiot, trying to buy the vote in Toronto, which is critical to him. A lot of the Never-Never Land morons here in The Big Smoke will nod their heads like puppets at his initiative, but I would hope that many more will realize that this could be the start of something dangerous, and vote accordingly. If PMPM gets in again and DOES ban handguns (yeah, I'm sure the already-overworked cops would LOVE to be on the 1st Canadian Firearms Confiscation Team : ), could not Uncle Giovanni's hunting rifle be far behind? Methinks not.

Get THE PEOPLE out to vote. Abstention is our greatest enemy in this election. The slavering idiots in our urban centres will still vote Liberal, but the rest of us have a responsibility to counter that as best we can. Go door-to-door. Talk to your neighbours, quietly, responsibly. They will listen to common sense (gawd knows they hear little of it on the TV). MAKE A DIFFERENCE. You can do it. Mebbe, just mebbe, Martin's skewered himself on this one - let's baste his ass and turn the heat up on the barbie. And then feed his overcooked carcass to the raccoons.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by alleramilitaria
2 or 3 years ago the UN tried to pass a resolution to ban all private gun ownership in the USA. now we know who the stupid people are. and by the way if you want to see something great look at the crime rate in Washington state. they liberalised the carry policy for handguns and the crime rate dropped like a rock!!!

I think the US should unceremoniously hoof the UN out of New York; repossess the building, demolish it, and send them to the paradise of, say... Lagos, Nigeria. Their time has long passed. They need to buy a ticket on the clue train.

[chris vickery]

Eliminate poverty, increase and support education, stop the drug flow and end immigration.
The 16 year old West Indian male who moves to Canada, drops out of school, gets into selling drugs and carrying illegal guns is the problem. The court system throws 'em back on the street, although charged with a serious crime, maybe even deports him, and he's back again.
The Government sends billions of tax dollars to foreign lands instead of using it here for education and social reforms to help those who need it. Maybe start here Mr Martin.
Stem the flow of illicit drugs, maybe you slow down the crime as there's nothing to gang bang over...
Sick and F*****G tired of the minority bastard once agin impinging on my freedoms once again... May Toronto and it's sewer rats fall off the earth. You Westerners have it right.

[sapper740]

Originally posted by alleramilitaria
2 or 3 years ago the UN tried to pass a resolution to ban all private gun ownership in the USA. now we know who the stupid people are. and by the way if you want to see something great look at the crime rate in Washington state. they liberalised the carry policy for handguns and the crime rate dropped like a rock!!!

They're still at it Dave! Everybody is aware that John Bolton was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. but few realize the criticality of this appointment to gun owners! I quote the article by Wayne LaPierre in the Oct. 2005 issue of "The American Rifleman."
"Bolton's appearance before the U.N. Conference to draft a global "treaty on small arms" was remarkable for the simple clarity of his words and for the effect it had on the proceedings:
"The United States will not join consensus on a final document that contains measures contrary to our constitutional right to keep and bear arms."
Can anyone imagine a Canadian politician being as clear, strong and forthright? I thought not!
A manifesto has been distributed by I.A.N.S.A. (International Action Network on Small Arms), a group headed by Rebecca Peters whose accomplishments include the confiscatory ban in Australia that robbed firearms owners of semi-auto rifles. Her world view of firearms ownership would limit possession of firearms to single shot rifles owned by registered hunters only!
I fear the U.S. may be the last bastion of common sense attitudes towards firearms!

[RHClarke]

So PM PM says "Guns kill people", eh? Call it "Liberal Logic" - another oxymoron (like Liberal Integrity).

Got some bad news for him. If he would just walk across the road from his taxpayor funded mansion overlooking the Rideau, he will discover a crime scene where a young lady was viciously stabbed to death. Following his liberal logic, the knife magically stabbed her. The fellow caught at the scene must have been an innocent bystander.

Now we all know that it takes a human to commit the crime. You can't blame the tool - yes, you can harp about the availability of the tool, but it still takes a human to wield it.

Time for knife control, baseball bat control, tire iron control...how about controlling the criminals and politically correct judges?

Come on folks, we can't suffer through another crappy Liberal government...

Dispairing in the Nations Capitol (the one in Ontario)

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Rob..
When I read this headline in the Sun this morning,my first thought was....Jeez...Is it 24 Sussex????
Hope springs eternal....
(For those who don't know the area,and the story,a young girl..21 years old was knifed to death a block or so from government house,where our governor general lives...24 Sussex is where our gun banning, potlicking ,running dog of a Prime Minister lives...and that is basically across the street...)
No such luck.......

[chris vickery]

How about banning politicians who steal us blind?

[Brian Gough]

From the Toronto Star commentary page, Sat. Dec. 10, 2005

View From The West - Murdoch Davis in Winnipeg

" Handgun `ban' is the gun registry all over again

Liberals just out to hustle votes


So, this is what it comes to for Paul Martin and the Liberals — in a tardy response to the Summer of Guns, they will make illegal that which is already illegal, and ban handguns, except where they don't.

It's a real "son of a gun registry." And it will be as ineffective in protecting Canadians from violence as the registry, in which the Liberals made illegal that which had previously been legal — unregistered rifles or shotguns — even though they had nothing to do with the targeted crime.

If the cost multiplier that affected the registry applies again, this could cost $2.9 gazillion, give or take a hundred million. Let us pray.

Too often, anyone who doesn't support weapons laws is dismissed as a right-wing nut, overly fond of guns. I am neither. What I am is an advocate of sound public policy, where what gets examined is the likely effect of a proposal rather than its stated aims.

Too often in our public discourse, a person who challenges a proposal is assumed to be in favour of what proponents claim they will reduce. Effectiveness goes unexamined. We end up with programs with lofty goals but little effect, or far more costly than merited.

When then-justice minister Allan Rock was selling the long-gun registry, he spoke to the editorial board of the Edmonton Journal. He said police handling domestic violence complaints always had to prepare in case the home held weapons, but the registry would give them certainty.

When I pointed out that police would still always have to anticipate unregistered weapons, the minister's response was a steady stare and silence. The point was unassailable. After the meeting, an aide shook his head and asked: "Why do you like guns so much?" I could see the costly boondoggle coming and wanted to debate that, but it was hopeless.

That Prime Minister Paul Martin is advocating a sort-of ban on handguns and blaming the spate of gunplay on a leaky American border (isn't that the same border as ours?) is all politics. There is an election on.

The rifle and shotgun registry was all politics, too. It grew out of reaction to the murder of 14 Montreal women by Marc Lepine. Lepine was crazy, which is tough to outlaw. What he did, and the repeater weapon he used, was already illegal — banned, even. That didn't matter much in the debate on the shotgun registry, just as for some it won't matter now that what killers in Toronto did this summer, and the guns they used, were already illegal. Martin got what he wanted — top broadcast and newspaper play, a few days running.

It's difficult to believe this is well thought out. It was not in the anti-crime legislation before Parliament. Tightening the border was in Liberal literature in the last election, yet is suddenly a priority?

Tuesday, the 16th anniversary of Lepine's crimes, was marked across the country with candlelight vigils by people the Liberals see as voters motivated by this issue. The sister of a victim called for a further crackdown on guns. Deliberate leaks of Martin's ban followed, in time for Wednesday night newscasts and Thursday papers.

Liberal officials say the ban means that when police see a person with a handgun, they will know it's illegal. That's as absurd as Rock's registry claim. Even the rare person with a handgun permit faces storage and transport rules so strict that only someone with X-ray vision could see a gun legally in public. There are no instances of police under-reacting to gun sightings.

Among the flaws in the long-weapon registry is that it makes non-compliance a Criminal Code offence, not just against a lesser law. That's because only through the code can Ottawa regulate such matters; otherwise, it's provincial jurisdiction. (That's why analogies to registering cars are bogus — failure to register a car isn't criminal, and if it never leaves your property, you don't have to register.)

But policing and enforcement are provincial, too. And as registry costs soared, most provinces directed authorities not to enforce it. Headlines describe Martin's ban as "sweeping," but the broom is ragged. Ottawa has to negotiate with provinces.

Initial Western reaction has been widely incredulous, and provincial leaders already lean to opting out again. Patchwork criminal law enforcement isn't good for Canada. Don't be surprised if the money for law enforcement that was announced with the ban is used to induce the provinces. Such bribes have become how we define national standards.

It all assumes, of course, that Martin wins re-election — what this is really about. The handgun ban is meaningless and the border issue isn't new. But by raising them, Liberals can hope to get responses from Tory Leader Stephen Harper — who still speaks of ending the wasteful long-gun registry, not adding more ineffective laws — that they can use to portray him as one of those nuts who is overly fond of guns.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Murdoch Davis is a writer and editor who has worked in Edmonton, Victoria, Winnipeg and Toronto. He is editor of The Beaver magazine. "

--

[Snowtractor]

Once again a damn politician is trying to get easy votes. Instead of saving the 100000 people killed/injured on highways or the 300000k that have smoking deaths or illnesses they pick on an easy target to try to save 50 people in Toronto killed by invisible guns. Now there is leadership and trying to protection of the people. More people get killed on bicycles and in construction then with guns. They quoted the Quebec biker war , but did not most of the deaths result from bombings beatings and knifings.
That said Canada already has soe of the hardest and in many cases the hardest laws in the world for using a handgun or any gun in the comission of a crime. Twice the lenght of most countries. However, you have to get a judge to impose the laws and that has nothing to do with elections because they are removed from public reaction by being appointed not elected. Now lets go one further on that and let a "LIBERAL" gov appoint
"LIBERAL" judges and do you think a liberal personality judge is going to lock away a 19 year old for the max? good luck. Look how many young guns are street racing and killing innocent bystanders and they are getting little or no jail time, just a fine for taking a life.
Now , think how nice it is going to be when criminals KNOW there are no guns in a house . Why even pause to make sure no one is home , we have guns or crowbars and I am sure we 3 or 4 thugs can thrash anyone in the house if they have no guns..
Apply that to the police , why negotiate with anyone anymore and actually try to resolve an issue instead of enforce political will on an individual ( laws come from politicians ). Lets face it in a city setting cops are busy they really don't have time to negotiate with anyone so lets kick the door in beat the guy silly ( after all we know no one has guns anymore ) and get on with our day. Though we may have made the situation worse and made people ralley around the criminals position , so next time there are 2 disgruntled individuals , then 4 etc etc. When only one side has any might/strenght/force why waste a perfectly nice day talking to whiners.
Now reality is handguns are restricted to killing people or target shooting in Canada because we can not hunt with them. I like them but they are a rather useless tool. That said they give the powers that be and the criminals pause and that is there good quality. When mankind passifies and there are bonfires of guns in Pakistan,Iran,Africa,Bosnia,Bolivia,Argentina,Chec hnia, etc etc etc I will be first...well maybe second in line.
Sean

[sapper740]

Originally posted by Brian Gough


The rifle and shotgun registry was all politics, too. It grew out of reaction to the murder of 14 Montreal women by Marc Lepine. Lepine was crazy, which is tough to outlaw. What he did, and the repeater weapon he used, was already illegal — banned, even. That didn't matter much in the debate on the shotgun registry, just as for some it won't matter now that what killers in Toronto did this summer, and the guns they used, were already illegal. Martin got what he wanted — top broadcast and newspaper play, a few days running.

--

Correction: The Ruger Mini 14 that Marc Lepine used to murder the women was neither restricted nor prohibited at the time.

[rob love]

Originally posted by sapper740
Correction: The Ruger Mini 14 that Marc Lepine used to murder the women was neither restricted nor prohibited at the time.

Actually, the gun Gamil Gabri (Marc Lapine)used he had attempted to modify to full automatic in the day(s) proceeding his shooting. He did not take into account that having the hammer merely follow the bolt home would not make the gun fire in an automatic mode. Instead he had to cock the gun with each shot. The mini 14 still remains an unrestricted gun.
His real name of Gamil Gabri comes as a surprise to most. It was not until many years after the incident that any paper printed his real name, vice the maiden name of his mother. Apparently, much of his hatred for women came from the values instilled by his Muslim father. In my books, his act was one of the Muslim hate crimes which are now realized by the Western world today.

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Brian Gough
It's amazing the number of times today I heard comments like: "Why would anyone want one of those?" or "Nobody should be allowed to have that many in this country".
Brian

Those are my thoughts exactly in relation to Jack Russell Terriers!

In discussions on gun laws with work collegues, I pointed the ridiculousness of spending millions of tax dollars on the gun buyback, when thousands were dying in car accidents, hospital errors, and drug and alcohol abuse, yet still criminals will continue to have access to and use firearms.

I pointed out to one co-worker that she shouldn't be allowed to own 3 Jack Russell Terriers.
Her: My God! Why not?
Me: Because they're designed to kill.
Her: My pretty dogs?
Me: Put them in a hutch full of Rabbit Kittens and tell me how cute they are then.
Her: But I would never put my dogs in a hutch of rabbits, or let them run free outdoors, or go hunting with it. That would be irresponsible!
Me: EXACTLY! So why do you assume that I will hand over my firearms to the first deranged lunatic on his way to the mall/school canteen/post-separation interview with his ex-boss?

In the free democracy we live in, we ought to be free to do what we choose within the law, unless we have individually shown that we do not deserve that freedom. I respect and support her right to own, breed and hug as many Jack Russell Terriers she likes, as long as they don't interfere with my freedoms. She should also respect my rights to my own property and to follow my interests, as long as I don't interfere with her freedoms.



JACK RUSSELL TERRIERS ARE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION! SADDAM HAD 'EM, TOO! BAN THEM TODAY!

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Right on Tony!!
People like your Jack Russel Terrier lady are very irksome and why mischief like this can go on. Because they don't like it, you shouldn't either. There are many 'rights' and 'preferneces' going on about me that are irritating and dangerous, but who the hell am I to ban them based on my preferences? Who needs a car with more that 4 smog producing cylinders? Who needs a cell phone or loud speakers while driving, putting me at risk? People who ski use scarce medical resources when they wipe out...ban it!!

Somewhere along the line we lost the ability to let people alone to persue the things they want during thier lives. Now, you must be part of the dull grey herd, or be corrected.

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Bruce Parker
Right on Tony!!
People like your Jack Russel Terrier lady are very irksome and why mischief like this can go on. Because they don't like it, you shouldn't either. There are many 'rights' and 'preferneces' going on about me that are irritating and dangerous, but who the hell am I to ban them based on my preferences? Who needs a car with more that 4 smog producing cylinders? Who needs a cell phone or loud speakers while driving, putting me at risk? People who ski use scarce medical resources when they wipe out...ban it!!

Somewhere along the line we lost the ability to let people alone to persue the things they want during thier lives. Now, you must be part of the dull grey herd, or be corrected.

Bruce: ...it's called social engineering where citizens are forced to abrogate parts of Common Law.

I am mightily fed up with various levels of government telling me what to do and when to do it. I reject that and oppose it whenever I can. I feel that I am mature enough to accept responsibility for my own actions.

Straying way off topic, but as an example of my feelings about this, I've sent a letter to the Energy Minister stating among other things, that I expressly forbid her or any agents to trespass on my property in order to install a "Smart Meter". This bit of social engineering will tell you when you can use your dishwasher or do your laundry. I told her that I neither need nor want such a device which will attempt to control my lifestyle.

Same with this handgun ban. If a cop shows up wanting any stuff, I'll use all sorts of stalling actions. If it comes down to the crunch, and he wants to carry away my stuff, I won't let him, unless they're trigger locked...that would be against the law, wouldn't it? He'd better bring a cheque with him (at fair market value) before I am forced to release the stuff.

Man, am I ever pissed off!

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

those few WW1 handguns, for which there is no ammunition, and which were safe, registered and in my care for the last 20 years, under the new reality (as all are now unsafe and prohibited) I just can't recall where they got to. Maybe a Toronto gang member is after his prey with a .455 Webley???

[RHClarke]

Bruce,

No doubt the gang is sitting on the sofa eating popcorn and drinking beer...

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Bruce Parker
Maybe a Toronto gang member is after his prey with a .455 Webley???

Yes, "STAND AND DELIVER! GIVE ME ALL YOUR LUPINS!"

I really felt for that black couple who went on TV this last weekend regards their murdered son, but they did all of us a favour by openly calling Martin a jackass and saying his handgun-control initiative will be a bloody waste of time (the word 'bloody' being mine and having a double meaning). Perhaps The Great Unwashed are starting to get the word.

In the meantime, I will, true to my nature as a Conservative neer-do-well, indulge in some popcorn and beer. I am slowly getting the feeling that unless Harper screws up royally, Martin's goose is cooked. If so I will celebrate with - you guessed it - more popcorn and beer....

Please, Ontario, rid us of these morons!

[servicepub (RIP)]

We, in Ontario,(and elsewhere in Canada) can sit and hope that we get rid of the Liberals. But if you really want this to happen go to work for your Conservative candidate.
This will have the benefit of educating him/her and to show him/her that you are serious about the issue.
I work for the Feds and am limited in what I can do during an election campaign but I already have the lawn sign and I will be licking envelopes this weekend - both are permitted activities.
Another pro-gun activity. If you belong to a range then invite a journalist to a day of putting some ammo down-range. Great way to show them that Canadian firearms enthusiasts (not gun-nuts) are just the average Joe and not drooling idiots who sit in front of their PC or TV fondling their machine guns.

[RHClarke]

Geoff,

Thanks for bringing back some fond memories of a simpler, more gentle time. After PMPM and his gang, the Monty Python gang seem downright normal.

As for the popcorn, what a waste of money - buy more beer! Also visit http://www.kidsnotbeer.com/ and "voice" your displeasure in an online petition.

Clive, I would suggest using a sponge to wet the envelopes - we don't want a mass mailing of civil servant's disease, not to mention the paper cuts...

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by servicepub
We, in Ontario,(and elsewhere in Canada) can sit and hope that we get rid of the Liberals. But if you really want this to happen go to work for your Conservative candidate....

I'm trying, but I live in Toronto-Danforth and so far, no one's been willing to go up against Jack Layton! I would just for the hell of it, but I haven't got the money.

If this riding association doesn't get its act in gear soon, I'm going to get REALLY pissed off though... anyone have an inside track into the CPC organization, where I can raise some hell? We have a chance here to make a real difference, and if nothing else to scare the hell out of Layton...

Contact me through PM if that's preferable.

Originally posted by Jholl72

CRIME CONTROL NOT GUN CONTROL....

I love your words (above) best ... because I've always been a big one for seeing that "the solution is in the problem" ... in this case, the problem is CRIME NOT guns. knives, scissors, poison, bombs, etc ...

Hell, why not ban ALL human beings because they can kill with their thumbs or other body parts, and can even kill with their minds through psychological manipulation and coercement, neglect etc ... hell yes ... ban human beings because THEY CAN KILL!!! Ban 'em or even kill 'em all, "JUST IN CASE don't ya bluddy well know???

To ban the tools (weapons of choice) of the trade rather than the ones who use them against humanity is the height of insanity and just plain unrealistic (or manipulative for perks or votes???)

GET REAL ... CRIME CONTROL NOT GUN CONTROL!

See? Even Ma is not so effected by life's events that I can't see the stupidity and outright unjustness of any laws that would attack neutral "things" rather than the problem of those who use neutral "things" to harm other humans.

CRIME CONTROL NOT GUN CONTROL.

When will those powers that be get their crap together and just get real and focus on stamping out the roots of the problem and not the "tools they use to do their dirty work"???

And how much more will we all lose and pay whilst our dysfunctional parent-government scapegoats us and our "things" while avoiding taking responsibility and actions against what actually is the problem = crime/criminal behaviors ???

Hmmmm ... I wonder who will end up taking some of these treasures home? or will this guy be allowed to keep his own collection intact and take 'em home again? I hope he get's them back. ... Ma

December 14, 2005
Arms cache found by cops
Cannon, machine-guns in suite
By TAMARA KING, STAFF REPORTER


Jacqueline Chaput, Winnipeg Police Service public information officer, holds a Bren gun found in apartment. (Marcel Cretain, Sun)

It didn't turn out to be a typical tenant dispute.

City cops trying to break up a fight at an Ellice Avenue apartment Monday night came across a cache of unregistered weapons that included a miniature cannon and machine-guns from the Second World War -- many of which were functional.

Police arrested the alleged owner, who they say is not a registered collector.

Though small at eight inches tall and 12 inches wide, the fully working Traditions .50-calibre cannon packs a powerful punch.

"I've never seen one that actually works," Winnipeg police Det. Paul Brown of the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team told the Sun yesterday.

"It's significant in the fact we have some real guns in this ... three machine-guns is quite significant," Brown said while the weapons were on display at Winnipeg's main police station yesterday morning.

Among the three machine-guns was a Bren gun Mark 1 -- a heavy-duty machine-gun used by British and Canadian soldiers in the Second World War. Some were kept by soldiers after 1945, Brown said.

An automatic Sten gun and a more modern FN machine-gun, also displayed by police, were Canadian military combat weapons, confirmed a local weapons expert, who asked the Sun not to print his name.

Understands concern

Officers also seized more than 20 knives, a dozen swords, several pellet guns, a Russian bolt-action rifle, a gas mask, an air gun, a dart gun, a slingshot, a crossbow, a pair of black-powder muzzle loaders and various other types of ammunition from the apartment, which is in the 500 block of Ellice Avenue.

The muzzle-loaders, which are likely replicas of models from about 1880-90, are legal, says the weapons expert.

While criminals aren't likely to use muzzle loaders and cannons as weapons, the weapons expert understands the concern of police who found them. "They could still put a pretty good hole through you," he said. "And you never know with criminals."

Ivan Alexander Shewchuk, 44, is facing numerous weapons charges, including careless use of firearms, weapons and ammunition as well as possessing firearms while prohibited.

In March 2002, Shewchuk was convicted in Selkirk of driving over .08. He was prohibited from driving for one year and owning weapons for five years.

Additional charges of possession of a dangerous weapon, uttering threats and impaired driving were stayed.

Shewchuk is in custody and will appear in court this morning.

A Winnipeg military expert said she's surprised by the arrest.

"I'd bet my Sunday supper he's allowed to have these guns," said Jamie Cline, who runs Marway Militaria. "He's been a collector for years," she said, adding her Sergeant Avenue store sells military uniforms and badges and does not deal in firearms.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

It's about bloody time:

Harper promises elected senators

VANCOUVER (CP) - Stephen Harper says a Conservative government will allow voters in Canada's provinces and territories to directly choose the country's senators.

Harper says a Senate seat should be occupied by someone with a democratic mandate, and that Canadians should be able to vote for senators as well as MPs. The Conservative leader pledged to put a national process in place for senatorial elections on an interim basis.

He also said a Conservative government would press forward in setting up fixed election dates every four years.

Once senators are elected, Harper says the government would press forward with a more comprehensive plan for Senate reform.

Harper called Canada's appointed Senate a relic of the 19th century.

[RHClarke]

In this corner, you have Monsieur Paul Martin, Prime Minister of the greatest collection of political wusses in the world. His opponent, David Wilkens, representing the mightiest nation on earth.

Any bets on the outcome of the unrepentant Mr. Martin's latest gaffe? Any chance this wil change the softwood lumber (sounds real Canadian, eh? -perhaps a dose of Viagra would help...) or the beef "beef"?

Gad, I'm so embarrased by this clown and his hacks.