[URBAN NOTE] Toronto, guns, and paranoia Canadian-style

[rfmcdonald]

I'm becoming less and less impressed with the Harper government. Blaming the failure of the Conservative government's plans to abolish the Canadian long-gun registry not on the opposition of the parliamentary opposition and much of the public at large, but rather on a manipulative "Toronto elite," is, well.

Conservative House Leader John Baird blamed politicians in Canada’s largest city for pressuring colleagues into changing their positions in advance of a crucial vote in the House of Commons next week.

It is not the first time Baird has launched an attack on Toronto and outgoing Mayor David Miller said the minister was “inaccurate and divisive.”

At a Thursday news conference, Baird said it was Toronto-based party leaders — Liberal Michael Ignatieff and New Democrat Jack Layton — and their “friends” driving the pro-registry lobby.

While outlining the government’s priorities — the economy being number 1 — for the upcoming Parliamentary session, Baird warned that “flip flopping” MPs who “face pressure from Toronto elites” and change their votes will be held accountable at the polls.

Baird had to apologize last summer to Miller after he was overheard by the Toronto’s Star’s Petti Fong saying the city “should f— off” during a dispute over Toronto’s application under the federal government’s $4 billion infrastructure stimulus fund.

Did you know that Stephen Harper was born and raised in Toronto? Etobicoke, granted, but that still counts.

Toronto Life's take on the matter was amusing and to the point.

Sometimes it’s difficult to keep the Conservative talking points straight. Is Michael Ignatieff a Toronto elite? We thought he was “just visiting” from Harvard. Or was it London? We can’t tell whether we’re supposed to resent Ignatieff because he’s from Toronto or because he’s not. Meanwhile, Jack Layton is from Hudson, Quebec, despite serving on Toronto’s city council and representing a riding here. But wait, we thought they were both in a coalition with Quebec separatists.

One thing’s clear: we know who the elites aren’t. Conservatives, that’s who. John Baird may be a cabinet minister in the government of Canada, and a graduate of Queen’s University, but don’t think he ain’t just folks. Nothing says down home cooking like “I’m a pescatarian, not a vegetarian.” Maybe his vocabulary was corrupted by the 10 years he spent in Toronto.

Baird’s colleagues in cabinet are just as homey, we’re sure. Tony Clement may have graduated from U of T Law and spent years in the Harris government at Queen’s Park (in Toronto!) but now he represents Parry Sound-Muskoka, where he engages in that most rural of Canadian past-times: building fake lakes and airport expansions for visiting global leaders.

Finally, the most un-elite of the un-elite must be our prime minister himself, Stephen Harper. Sure, he was born and raised in Toronto (in fact, he’s the first PM we can say that about). Sure, he spends his nights doing duets with Yo-Yo Ma and hobnobbing with Canadian celebrities. But he too enjoys traditional Canadian values, like having his underlings slag the city he was born in for cheap political gain.

The gun registry is popular elsewhere in Canada, too. It is big in Québec thanks partly to the shootings in that province, most prominently the famous Polytechnique massacre of women in Montreal in 1989, it is popular among police in British Columbia and indeed most everywhere in Canada (not Harper's home base of Calgary, naturally), and the latest RCMP report concludes that the gun registry is efficient. But, of course, the Conservative government's opposed to "experts," with their "knowledge," and includes instead at least one conspiracy-theorist MP talking of a police conspiracy to disarm Canadians.

We need a new government.