While new polls show that more and more of Canadians (currently 48%) believe that to kill the long-gun registry is not good idea, the registry is becoming pretty political issue which, according to analysts, will affect the next federal elections.

After Charlie Angus, another NDP MP, Glenn Thibeault, announced he would change his vote and support the long-gun registry. He is one of the 12 New Democrats who had voted with the Harper government to scrap the controversial registry, which is considered by the cabinet very unuseful and too expensive. Another lost vote would not make Conservatives happy, because the day "D", Sept. 22, when the crucial third-reading vote on the registry's future is scheduled to take place in the House of Commons, nears.

Not only the government, but opposition neither is happy with the acting of NDP. Liberals, who introduced the long-gun registry in 1995, criticized the leader of new democrats for allowing his MPs a free vote on Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to repeal the long-gun registry, and making the NDP the weakest part of the chain. They are afraid of losing support, so they expected Jack Layton to be a stronger leader who will be able to order its MPs to support the registry or make them face punishment. (That is what Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has done after eight of his MPs voted to scrap the registry on second reading.)

Analysts say, whatever the result of the final vote on Sept.22 will be, we can expect echo in the federal elections.

Miroslava Hospodarova

Photo: ISIFA