RANDOM FIRE

The Conservatives under Stephen Harper have mastered the buckshot approach to governing, with their omnibus bills and continuous fire at their rivals on the horizon. When it comes to cementing misinformation and dishonest stories, they've spread the news, and good.
As we head into the key debate portion of the Liberal leadership race, it would be cool if more members of our blogosphere teammates would keep an open mind when it comes to what candidates have to say and propose.
I'm a proponent of the current supply management policy that has been Canadian government operations for many, many years. That doesn't mean I'm going to hector Martha Hall Finlay when she speaks her piece. I don't necessarily agree that Canada's telecommunication industry should be opened further to foreign investors; but I've got lots of time to listen to Marc Garneau.
When I hear a revered blogger like C4SR continue to catcall Justin Trudeau because the MP for Papineau has said that the long gun registry is dead and was a failure, I'm wondering exactly what C4SR is trying to achieve.
Does he want the long gun registry re-deployed? If so, which party and which leader is standing up for that exact thing? While it was through massive lies and falsified facts, the CONs under Stephen Harper have convinced Canadians that the registry was a waste of money and was poor policy. A majority of Canadians want stronger gun control but when push comes to shove, it is an issue that does not mobilize voters. Admittedly, a successful registry produces fewer victims, thus fewer tragic headlines, which are things that are hard to quantify. No one is running newspaper stories about "Jane Doe is alive today because her husband didn't have ready access to a long gun"... The CONs lied -- Sheila Fraser demonstrated that. We can agree that Canadian police chiefs, first responders, victim services and women's support groups all wanted the long gun registry saved -- but Canadians are not marching in the streets in solidarity, unfortunately.
If Trudeau was talking about how the past and current governments failed to demonstrate how the gun registry was working, and how it failed to galvanize support over the years under the barrage of CON lies, he was correct. Marc Garneau also says there will be no returning to a long gun registry if he was to be elected Liberal leader -- because he knows that would be a sure-fire vote loser. Even the NDP straddled the line between support and apathy towards the registry, because it saved lives -- their own.
In suburban centres and ridings, I believe we can find something towards an agreement about gun control -- but that is not Canada. Certainly as someone who talks from the Prairies, C4SR understands the divisiveness that this issue has played in the past -- especially when it is manipulated by those with less than honourable intentions. Trudeau, and to a lesser extent, Garneau don't want to get caught up in that game with the CONs. So at this stage, take it off the table. Let the party membership put together a cohesive policy. It's something that requires finesse and debate -- but healthy debate, not namecalling or catcalling.
With that in mind, I challenge C4SR to open up the debate on his blog. Let comments flow -- he or she will find there are those who agree and those who disagree. But through discussion and engagement -- of the kind Trudeau, Garneau, Hall Findlay, Joyce Murray and their fellow leadership rivals are trying to create.