Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The Federal Government’s inaction on banning handguns and assault weapons is inexcusable.
Their timidity is deplorable.
The Minister in charge of the dithering, former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, says the Liberal election platform may include something on assault weapons. And while there will be no nationwide ban on handguns municipalities are likely to be given the powers to impose additional restrictions on handguns in their own patch. Seriously? Is this it?
Mass shootings now the new normal
Mass shootings have now become normalised in the dysfunctional United States. They happen all the time. In El Paso 22 people are murdered and 26 injured. In Dayton, 10 are slain and 27 injured. There are the usual thoughts and prayers but nothing will change down there.
If Sandy Hook Elementary School (27 killed); Las Vegas (58 killed, 422 wounded) and Orlando Night Club (49 killed, 53 wounded) couldn’t persuade Congress to act then nothing will.
The United States has shown itself to be incapable of addressing this epidemic of mass murder.
But why don’t we act to stop this madness from taking hold in Canada? Here there is no Second Amendment right to bear arms.
After Danforth what does it take?
A year ago we had Danforth where 3 people were killed and others left with life changing injuries. A young woman in the prime of life is left paralysed from the waist down. Who weeps for her?
Not the Federal Government. It is content to “consult” on the way forward. Ministers are afraid of offending the 2.1 million firearm licence holders in Canada. But what about the rest of us who don’t want or need guns?
The Government is strengthening gun laws (C72) but it is not enough.
The Government’s own figures show gun homicides have nearly doubled (98.5%) from 134 in 2013 to 266 in 2017.
More than half (55%) of firearm-related homicides in 2017 were committed using handguns.
Violent offences specific to firearms have increased by 45% since 2013, rising from 1,892 incidents in 2013 to 2,734 incidents in 2017.
And the spiralling incidence of gun crime shows no signs of levelling off. 
Government relies on flawed survey results
The Government’s consultation in the wake of Danforth told us they had 135,00 responses to their on-line questionnaire.
But the survey was seriously flawed. Astonishingly, people could vote multiple times – and they did, invalidating the result.
But did Bill Blair comment on this? No.
It was no surprise that the key finding from the fraudulent online questionnaire was this:
“Majority of respondents did not support further limiting access to firearms and assault-style firearms”
Bill Blair gives weight to this tosh.
And resolves to keep us safe from gun violence.
How?
Gordon.prentice@shrinkslessorsquare
There are three categories of firearms in Canada: Restricted: handguns, certain rifles and semi-automatics; Prohibited: certain handguns, fully automatic rifles, and sawed off rifles; and Non-restricted: standard hunting rifles and shotguns.
Update on 8 August 2019 from the Toronto Star: Tougher gun measures on election agenda.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Tony Van Bynen, the freshly minted 69 year old Liberal candidate for Newmarket-Aurora and our next MP, continues to block me from reading his Tweets.
I have tweeted the Liberal Party (@liberal_party) to ask if that’s OK and what’s going to happen when, in 12 weeks time, he is my MP.
Once he is comfortably settled in Ottawa will he respond to my emails on public policy issues or will he still block me?
If I want to talk to him about, say, a ban on handguns or the climate emergency or income inequality or any one of a thousand other issues will he silently ignore me?
Or will he engage with the argument? 
Tony Van Bynen's Liberal Campaign Team tells us he needs volunteers
“to help with the crucial task of connecting with our voters at the door”.
I am left wondering if Tony will be knocking on my door to connect with me.
Tony needs YOUR HELP
In any event Tony is counting on YOUR HELP and you can join him at any or all of these fun events:
Saturday August 3rd 1.30-4pm. Meet at Talent Montessori School, 69 McLeod Dr, Aurora
Sunday August 4th 1.30-4pm. Meet at Sir William Mulock S.S, 705 Columbus Way, Newmarket
Tuesday August 6th 6.30-8.30pm. Meet at Devins Dr PS, 70 Devins Dr, Newmarket.
Thursday August 8th 6.30-8.30pm. Meet at Ray Twinney Arena, Newmarket.
Saturday August 10th 1.30-4pm. Meet at Newmarket Community Centre, 200 Doug Duncan Dr.
Sunday August 11th 1.30-4pm. Meet at Sir William Mulock S.S, 705 Columbus Way, Newmarket
Onwards and Upwards!
Below: Tony wows his audience at his nominating meeting on 8 July 2019. Tony was the only candidate to throw his hat into the ring.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Why on earth does the convicted fraudster Conrad Black want to return to the United Kingdom to reclaim his seat in the House of Lords? 
Does he just like dressing up? Or has he got something to say?
Black has been on leave of absence from the House of Lords. To get back he needs to give the Clerk of the Parliaments three months notice that he intends to sit in the Lords again.
The BBC recently reported that Black was planning a return to the House of Lords for the first time since he was convicted in 2007.
“Lord Black said he had already planned to retake his seat after being released from prison but the presidential pardon “makes it easier”.”
The reporter points out:
“Your co-defendants convicted of the same crime (Richard Boultbee and Peter Atkinson) did not receive a pardon.”
And Conrad Black replies:
“But they haven’t asked for one… I don’t see why they don’t apply for one.”
Pardon me. Pardon them.
I suppose His Lordship could make a recommendation to Trump, to pardon them as Trump pardoned him.
Eric H. Sussman, who prosecuted Conrad Black, told readers of the Financial Post that the presidential pardon is a mockery of justice:
“The pardon lays bare the fact that justice in Donald Trump’s America is unapologetically linked to who you know and how much money you have.”
Sussman says he was saddened but not surprised that Trump decided to pardon Black for his theft of millions of dollars from public shareholders and obstruction of justice.
“Nothing betrays the mockery that President Trump has made of our justice system more than the fact the Black’s co-defendants, Richard Boultbee and Peter Atkinson, Canadians who were convicted by the same jury, at the same trial, of the same fraud crimes as Black, did not receive any pardon consideration from President Trump. They remain convicted federal criminals with no pop singers or right-wing pundits to vouch for them.”
In fact, Black did not go through the usual channels (ie the US Department of Justice) to apply for his pardon. He lobbied the White House directly through Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor who is one of Trump’s staunchest defenders.
The Washington Post reported on 23 May that:
“Conrad Black (had) enlisted one of Trump’s biggest on-air defenders, Alan Dershowitz, to get the president’s attention.”
And it worked.
Black has refused to send me the Report from the White House Counsel’s Office which allegedly persuaded Trump to issue his pardon. So I asked the Office of the Pardon Attorney for a copy. They tell me:
“We have received your correspondence requesting a copy of a report alleged to have been created by the Office of White House Counsel related to Conrad Moffat Black, who was granted a Presidential pardon on May 15, 2019.”
“Please be advised that Mr. Black did not submit a pardon petition through the Department of Justice (the Department), so we are unaware of and cannot confirm or deny the existence of the records used by the President to make the above-referenced clemency decision.”
Black's contributions in the House of Lords
Black joined the Lords on 31 October 2001.
In his maiden speech on 15 May 2002 Baron Black told his fellow peers:
“My Lords, it is a privilege to be here. After the tortuous course that I pursued getting to your Lordships’ House I would be remiss if I did not thank the former Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister for their kind persistence on my behalf…”
Next up is Viscount Slim who says it is a great privilege to hear from Lord Black:
“We hope to see him here often. I congratulate him on a marvellous maiden speech.”
We hope to see him here often! 
In all his many years as a member of the House of Lords Conrad Black has spoken twice. (The second occasion was on Iraq on 28 November 2002.)
Isn’t it an impertinence to allow someone like Black, a convicted fraudster, to be part of the UK’s legislature, making the laws for everyone else?
Criminal Record not "expunged" by Trump's pardon
To be clear, Black’s criminal record is not expunged by Trump’s pardon. Only a Court of Law can expunge a criminal conviction.
New rules set out in the Standing Orders of the House of Lords, agreed in 2015, make provision for the expulsion or suspension of a member but these are not retrospective. He is a peer for life and has been registered to sit as a cross-bencher (or independent) since the Conservative whip was withdrawn in 2007 on his imprisonment.
In the House of Commons the rules are different. A jail sentence of a year or more for an MP means automatic expulsion.
Despite everything Lord Black of Crossharbour retains his title and his privileges and his trade-mark braggadocio.
When he eventually stirs himself and returns to the House of Lords I am left wondering what his third speech will be all about.
Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to get into the House of Lords. On his release from prison in the United States in 2012 he was allowed into Canada on a temporary residence basis. He is still here.