November 02, 2011

(Ottawa, ON ) -- The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, MP for Nunavut and Minister Responsible for Canada's North, today issued the following statement:

Last night I was proud to stand in the House of Commons and deliver on a promise made to the people of Nunavut: I voted to scrap Canada's wasteful long-gun registry.

This registry has always completely ignored the reality of Canada's North, and I am proud that our government is following through on its commitment to get rid of it.

Unfortunately for residents of the Northwest Territories, NDP MP Dennis Bevington did not stand up for them.

Bevington has said that he completely opposes the registry, and he was happy to use that position to earn voters' support during the last election campaign.

But when it came time to actually vote to kill the long-gun registry, Mr. Bevington sat there, in his chair, and refused to stand up for Northern interests.

Parliament has been back for less than six months, and in addition to changing his position on the gun registry, this NDP MP has already:

• voted in favour of an Air Canada strike;
• spoken out against the Conservatives buying new Arctic patrol vessels; and
• voted against funding for the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk highway.

The evidence is piling up that shows Dennis Bevington and the NDP are completely out of touch with Northerners.