Gun owners get short shrift

Regina — Opponents of the federal gun registry got a long-awaited chance to say their piece to a federal minister this week, but the meeting fell far short of expectations.

“It wasn't even close to what I expected,” said Darryl Schemenauer, owner of T'N'T Gunworks in Regina. “I'm disappointed, my meeting was really useless.”

Mr. Schemenauer says he got a call early in the week that Albina Guarnieri wanted to meet with him for an hour to talk about the gun registry. Ms. Guarnieri, the federal minister for emergency preparedness, is reviewing the registry at the request of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Mr. Schemenauer says he was impressed by the offer, and was looking forward to talking to Ms. Guarnieri about his numerous concerns about the controversial registry.

But the minister was running late, Mr. Schemenauer said, so the Friday meeting was cut down to less than 10 minutes.

“There were lots of issues we could have talked about and I wish she would have given us more time,” he said. “They should make time for people like us, people in the West, and five minutes doesn't do much.”

In a brief statement to the media after the meeting, Ms. Guarnieri said she has been hearing a wide variety of viewpoints on the issue, and is “pretty confident there are some good, solid recommendations in the offing.”

She also said she is going “to the source” to hear about the challenges and successes of the registry.

Greg Illerbrun of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation said Ms. Guarnieri's commitment to reviewing the registry was overshadowed by the brief time she spent with Regina residents on Friday.

He said Ms. Guarnieri told him the government is not going to pull the plug on the registry, and though she seemed sympathetic, he said he's not expecting much from the review process.

“I think that Albina is competent, she understands what the problems are, but I don't think there's the political will to make the changes,” he said.

“I think she understands where we're coming from, but I don't think there will be changes from what I read between the lines.”

Ms. Guarnieri flew back to Ottawa after the meeting and was unavailable for further comment.

Mr. Martin has said his government may make some changes to the gun registry but will not scrap it, as many opponents would like.

The registry was originally supposed to cost about $2-million, but Auditor General Sheila Fraser revealed in late 2002 that it would cost at least $1 billion by 2005.

The Honourable Albina Guarnieri
Associate Minister of National Defence and Minister of State (Civil Preparedness)
Albina Guarnieri has been the Member of Parliament for Mississauga East since 1988. She has served as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. She also served on the Standing Committees on Government Operations and Official Languages. From December 1993 to February 1996, Ms. Guarnieri was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

In the early 1980's, Ms. Guarnieri served as the Press Secretary to the Solicitor General of Canada and the Mayor of Toronto. She was educated at McGill University, where she graduated with a Master's degree in English.

Another Missisauga Momma from the GTA (greater Toronto to the uninformed)guncontrollers all. Good choice Martin, appointing such a biased individual to investigate this fiasco proves their intent to continue this cash guzzling outrage. It is a wonder he got five minutes with this biased b*tch.

What did he expect meeting with a Canadian Government official whose name could be mistaken for guano. He's been had and his presence will be used against him to show that the government listens to the citizens concerns (listening tour). Effe'd and didn't get a kiss.

Sounds like the government official found out they were in a no win situation so they just cut the debate short to be able to make a illusionary claim of listening to voters.

In the end they are going to do whatever their ideology tells them to do regardless of the voters.

"The Honourable Albina Guarnieri Associate Minister of National Defence and Minister of State (Civil Preparedness) Albina Guarnieri has been the Member of Parliament for Mississauga East since 1988. She has served as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. She also served on the Standing Committees on Government Operations and Official Languages. From December 1993 to February 1996, Ms. Guarnieri was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage."

She sounds like a friggin commie to me.

But the minister was running late...so the Friday meeting was cut down to less than 10 minutes.

This one line told me that Ms. Whateverhernameis didn't care a rat's neck about what Mr. One-of-the-great-unwashed thought.Whatever happened to: "Listen, I'd love to stay and talk but I've gotta run. I've got a 2 o'clock appointment."

"Running late" my Great Aunt Minnie! She chose to run late....50+ minutes late. Why? Because she didn't care. Period.

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