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The Newmarket Chamber of Commerce has cancelled next week's election debate citing logistical issues and the short timeframe.

The Chamber explains:

This is seriously bad news.  As I tap this out, this means there will be no debate in Newmarket open to the public where they can assess the merits of the candidates and see how they deal with being challenged on the issues.
 
Good grief! As a community and as a riding we are being short-changed.
 
Another casualty of this snap election called in the middle of a pandemic.
 
What a sad state of affairs that we can have a public debate on who should be the Mayor of Newmarket but not one on who should represent us in the Parliament of Canada.
 
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Update on 10 September 2021 from Newmarket Today
 

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The polling aggregator 338Canada.com says Newmarket-Aurora is a toss-up between the Conservatives and Liberals.

Here are the latest odds of winning:

 And here is the CBC Poll Tracker.

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Newmarket-Aurora’s former MP and now Liberal candidate, Tony Van Bynen, told us affordable housing would be one of his top priorities.

But the record shows he hasn't mentioned it in the House of Commons in almost two years.

Except once to say it was a priority.

I was hoping he would have explained by now the difference between “affordable rental housing” and “attainable rental housing”. (See right from his flyer) 

Is affordable housing attainable?

Is attainable housing affordable?

If attainable housing is affordable why not just say affordable?

Priorities

Van Bynen made his first speech in the House of Commons on 11 December 2019 when he told fellow MPs that climate change, affordable housing, infrastructure funding, health care and a need for a long-term fiscal plan would be his priorities. He had earlier told CTV news that “preserving local heritage” would also be a priority. 

The Parliament of Canada website’s search engine allows constituents to find out what their MP has said and done in Ottawa and what their priorities are.

I see two references to climate change (on 20 April 2020) and one on infrastructure (on 26 January 2021). There are multiple references to health as Van Bynen sits on the Health Committee whose agenda has been dominated by the Covid crisis. There are no references to local heritage.

The 43rd Parliament has, of course, been atypical with virtual votes and virtual speeches. The pandemic has turned the world upside down.

After his election in October 2019 Van Bynen took a while to find his feet. That's fair enough.

But, after two years, perhaps he can tell us what his priorities now are and if they've changed. And, if so, why?

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We should be grateful to the Aurora and Newmarket Chambers of Commerce for organising Federal Election debates.  

The Prime Minister called the election in the shortest time allowed by law and everyone has been scrambling to catch up.

The Newmarket debate is, unfortunately, after advance voting has closed.

It is expected that at least one quarter of voters will have voted by 13 September 2021. This is one of the perils of calling a snap election on an truncated timetable.

The Aurora Chamber debate is this Wednesday, 8 September 2021 and will run from 4pm – 6pm.

The Newmarket debate is on Thursday 16 September 2021 from 12 noon – 1pm.

Both events are virtual.

Registration Free

Registration is free. You are asked to fill in the name of the registering organisation. Typing in “private individual” will do if that is what you are.

Once you have registered you will be sent a link.

You can register for the Aurora debate here.

And for the Newmarket debate here.

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Justin Trudeau's handgun ban is dead in the water.

He says the Provinces and Territories must decide whether they want a ban. It is not a matter for him.

The Liberal platform released earlier this week promises to:

"Set aside a minimum of $1billion to support provinces or territories who implement a ban on handguns across their jurisdiction, to keep our cities and communities safe."  

This changes their 2019 policy which was to

"Give cities the power to restrict - and even ban - handguns." (right)

The Cities of Toronto and Montreal have both called for a nationwide ban, insisting that a patchwork quilt of different policies on handguns across municipalities is impractical and unworkable. 

Our local Mayors in Newmarket and Aurora, John Taylor and Tom Mrakas, agree.

No handgun bans in Ontario

However, Ontario's Premier, Doug Ford, has made it crystal clear he would not legislate to ban handguns.

The Liberals have tried to get round the absurdities of their 2019 policy by transferring ultimate responsibility to the Provinces and Territories, effectively giving them a veto.  If a Province or Territory doesn't want to ban handguns then it simply won't happen.

Assault weapons

Over the past few days the debate has been entirely focussed on "assault weapons" and how these should be defined. 

But handguns are the biggest problem.

The most senior civil servant in the Ministry of Public Safety, Talal Dakalbab, told me earlier this year:

“Handguns are the most commonly used type of firearm in violent crime and gang related homicides.”

61.5% and 16.9%

Figures from Statistics Canada tell us there were 3,351 victims of violent crime involving a handgun in 2010. By 2018 the number of victims had soared to 4,601. This represents a staggering 61.5% of all victims of firearm related violence. By contrast, in the same year (2018) there were 1,262 victims of a rifle or shotgun assault, representing 16.9% of the total.

Despite being aware of this, the Prime Minister passes the parcel to the Provinces in full knowledge that some are implacably opposed to a handgun ban. 

So far as I am aware there are no detailed background papers or analysis, published either by the Federal Government or the Liberal Party, explaining how the policy is expected to work in practice.  The Liberal's gun control Bill (Bill C21) touted by the Prime Minister as game-changing legislation died on the Order Paper when he called the election and Parliament was dissolved. But questions remain unanswered.

$1,000,000,000

Is the $1 billion offer time-limited or open-ended? To qualify for a slice of the money will the Provincial legislation have to be in a prescribed form, set by the Federal Government?

How will the $1 billion be apportioned? 

What happens if there is not a 100% take up? Will the opt-in Provinces get a bigger slice of the $1 billion?

What will this $1billion be spent on?

What estimates, if any, have been made of the cost of implementing and administering a Provincial handgun ban?

Does this opt-in opt-out handgun ban have any implications for the Criminal Code and on sentencing policy more generally? If so, what are they?

We could ask our Liberal candidate for answers to these questions.

But the self-styled "Voice for Fiscal Prudence" has no more idea than I do.

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Update on 5 September 2021: from the Sunday Star: Pressed on gun control Erin O'Toole still won't say which firearms he'd ban

Update on Monday 6 September 2021: from the Toronto Star: O'Toole reverses course on firearms ban

Update on 8 September 2021: from the Toronto Star: Conservatives and Liberals are both missing the biggest danger 

 

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