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I am writing to ask for your help in clearing up a matter that has recently been brought to my attention. Early last week, I began receiving constituent complaints regarding a mailing being sent to residents of Huron-Bruce by Conservative-Alliance MP's Stephen Harper, Carol Skelton, David Chatters, James Moore and Chuck Cadman. The said mailing read, in part, as follows… "Your Member of Parliament, Paul Steckle likes to boast that he voted against the Liberal gun registry in 1995. If Paul Steckle is so opposed to the registry, why didn't he vote against wasting another $59 million on it in 2003? Now, instead of scrapping the costly gun registry, Paul Martin has put Paul Steckle in charge of "improving" this billion-dollar sinkhole" Furthermore, on the back of the postcard like mailing, printed under the words "Office of the Leader of the Opposition" was the official logo of the Conservative Party of Canada. It should also be noted I have also been told of a similar mailing advising my constituents that Rose-Marie Ur is their Member of Parliament. While I am not asking you to help forward partisan information to your readership, I am asking for your assistance in clarifying the blatant misinformation that is being circulated by the Conservative-Alliance in this tax-payer funded partisan mailing. * Firstly, I am the Member of Parliament for Huron-Bruce. I know that some residents of Huron-Bruce have been told by the Conservative-Alliance that Rose-Marie Ur is their MP however, this is simply not true. * Secondly, I voted against Bill C-68 (the gun bill) in 1995 because the majority of my constituents told me to do so. Perhaps Stephen Harper (the soon-to-be leader of the Conservative-Alliance) could explain why he voted in favour of the firearms registry in 1995? * Thirdly, the Prime Minister has not placed me "in charge" of the firearms registry. If I were in charge of it - it would be gone! I would be interested in knowing why Mr. Harper and his fellow Conservative-Alliance MP's are using tax-dollars to misrepresent the facts surrounding this issue? In closing, your readership should be aware that I have brought this matter to the attention of the Speaker of the House of Commons. It is my hope that he will instruct the MP's involved that this is an inappropriate use of public resources. In the meantime, all constituents should know that I am your MP and that I will continue to work to put an end to the excessive waste of the firearms registry. Sincerely, |