Derek 2.0

Projects you claimed didn't happen. Still in development. Cancelled in favour of upgrading our current LAV IIIs As pictured, starting deliveries this fall. Final design selected, with production contract to be signed in the new year. No arguments there, but crews are already starting to transition in Nova Scotia. The Hornet replacement isn't expected until the end of this decade. Yet regular and reserve forces across Canada have been driving new ones fro several years..... The cost of recreating an industry…… 2/3rds of the fleet is already in Canada, with Sea King crews already transitioning to the Cyclone...... The bulk of the fleet has already been replaced, with the remainder being retailored to incorporate lessons learned form Afghanistan and Iraq, namely IED and mine protection and long term effects to the vehicles structure through fatigue of the extra weight of armour……Would you rather the army purchase trucks that would need replacing within a decade?

TBD……..On the surface, it reverts to wartime procurement under the King Government, coupled with the post war St Laurent government……….which in my view, were the only largely successful periods found in defense procurement for the Canadian Forces.

It is a common theme……..obviously though, Canada could spend 2% of GDP on defense right now, but it wouldn’t speed up procurement of the F-35 or a new, made in Canada solution, to replacements required by the navy……….As you can understand, like in the United States, political realities would disallow the foreign production of new naval vessels………..Aside from purchasing interim replacements for the Hornets and a portion of the navy (3 Destroyers and 2 supply ships), at this point, a fail to see what a Conservative or Liberal Government could do differently.

The pictorial references exemplify the point, more so then mere words, on how the OP/member is wrong on a great many things……….The equipment he claimed has seen “no movement on” can’t be denied when displayed with Canadian roundels.........concern of military porn noted though.

No movement? All procurements started and completed (or in the process of delivery) by the Harper Government ……… As to the Hornet replacement, naval vessels, maritime helicopters and FWSAR, all programs started under previous Liberal (give credit where it’s due), they are all in various stages of their multiyear schedules………….The Sea King crews are transitioning to Cyclones in Shearwater……FWSAR will go to tender later this year and new naval vessels and fighters will start delivers later this decade. There have certainly been delays in various programs, some self-inflicted political wrangling and some the fault of the supplier (which does not directly lay blame at the Conservatives and Liberals)…….Frankly Canada has had a broken procurement system for decades, which blame can directly be placed at the elected Government, but simply throwing more money at it won’t fix it.

What law? Also, if there is such a law, how effective do you feel it is, when Ontario residents purchase ammo outside of Province/online?

There is no such law.........are you suggesting you'd favour such a law? A ammo registry perhaps?

You feel the "date and time" should be recorded when a person buys ammo? Why is that?

What should be "with date and time"?

Catering too much is clearly subjective…….The new legislation to be tabled this Fall, is hardly controversial (or noticeable) to Canadians, well addressing several issues important to gun owners, a key base to the Tories. Does the ATT being rolled into an RPAL holders licence keep you up at night? What of requiring new applicants to complete a safety course, as opposed to challenging it? Returning several rifles that have been non-restricted for over a decade, back to non-restricted status? What of furthering restrictions placed against violent offenders from obtaining firearms…….surely you don’t feel that’s a bad thing? Notice the Liberals have yet to publicly oppose the new legislation, likewise (as I mentioned prior) voted against their own party resolution seeking to further draconian gun laws………The Tories and Liberals have acted in such a way for a reason……..And it’s not because the gun owning constituency is immeasurable to the Canadian political calculus.

On getting the Majority that is open to debate, but I agree on them losing it without the support of gun owners, hence the reasoning behind the Government’s quick response to draft new legislation after the reclassification earlier this year…..And on the inverse, the Liberals voting down a resolution proposed during their policy convention that would have seen further “gun control”…….. Gun owners, here and in the States, are a very efficient voter block, that is typically politically active and financially stable, and in turn, can become a political porcupine.

You must present a PAL, but I've never had my PAL logged for ammo purchases.........

Not legally.....Some dealers will record licence numbers for purchases for warranty purposes of firearms, likewise some sellers of ammo did record licence info as company policy (IIRC in Ontario and Quebec)…….As I’m sure you could imagine, their sales rapidly dried up until a policy rethink.

Yes they do..........Some aspects of C-68 are certainly better than previous regulations, namely the current form of licences (PAL/RPAL) versus the previous FAC……..For instance, when we had the FAC, if I wanted to purchase a firearm, I would have to obtain a form from the store, go to the local police detachment, have a background check and return to the store……..If later I wanted to purchase another firearm, I would repeat the same steps etc. Today with the current PAL system, I go through one background check on obtaining my licence. With non-restricted firearms, I can simply go into the store, present my licence, pay for my purchase and go home with my gun……….

And the NFA certainly play upon then Reform MP Harper’s near 20 year old promise to rescind the Liberal Firearms Act………Of course they are remiss in mentioning that they pine for full deregulation, which was certainly not the case prior to Bill C-68.....

Not really, Diemaco(now Colt Canada) started building the licenced variant of the Colt M-16 for the Canadian Forces after winning the contract for replacement rifles under the Trudeau Government. Canadian Diemaco made several alterations to the parent design (namely a stronger barrel with a slight difference to rifling twist to improve accuracy) that became marketable to other NATO allies, and were later implemented by Colt itself……….. Fast forward to the 90s and the contraction of Defense industries and Diemaco, with diminishing orders, became susceptible to corporate take-over….hence it’s purchase by Colt. My political bias aside, I still feel Mackay’s claim is plausible……..Externally, the only difference between the AR-15 and the M-16 is one additional position on the M-16s safety/selector switch……….It’s reasonable to assume, and I feel an honest mistake, for the untrained to make. On visual inspection only, could you tell the difference between the rifle used by the Canadian Forces, and a AR-15 intended for the commercial market? A clear, honest mistake that could be made by anyone without direct knowledge of the platform. Perhaps, or a mistake made by a politician, that given the shirt by a CF veteran, could have assumed it some form of military mantra, emboldened with a patriotic emblem of the Canadian flag and standard issue rifle of the Canadian army, coupled with macho slogan demonstrating resolve……… Of course we’ll never actually know, but one has to figure Mackay wouldn’t willingly adorn the logo of a lobby organization that the Government has purposely distanced itself from (preferring working with its competitor the CSSA), the very same group that is not only critical of the current Government, but also Mackay directy, dating all the way back to his term as PC Leader…..

It is an AR-15 without a doubt.......no contention there.

It’s very plausible, though I couldn’t confirm with 100% certainty………Very few Canadians, including those in the media and politics, actually know the legal status of the semi-automatic AR-15 in Canada……..As to the reference to his time with the CF, this further exemplifies the point (not meant as an attack), that yourself has a level of misunderstanding with the rifle, fore the Canadian Forces don’t operate the semi-automatic AR-15, but the select fire C7/C8, a direct variant of the select fire M-16. Where the confusion can be further compounded, is in the marketing by Colt Canada’s semi-auto only variant of the C7/C8 rifles, named as homage to their select-fire rifles produced for the Canadian Forces.

The C-7/8 is a variant of the AR-15……….nearly all modern American, Canadian, Chinese and European gun manufactures make their own clone.

Though domestic industry certainly factors somewhat into the equation, it has only a fraction of the impact as it does down South due to differing campaign finance and lobbying laws……….Notice that Colt has left Connecticut to RTW gun friendly Texas...future Colt offerings to the consumer market in the States will certainly have Texan/Canadian content…. None the less, due in part to the price point, far more Canadian AR-15 owners favour cheaper Chinese offerings compared to a “Buy American Canadian” Colt.

I certainly have no issue with the logo itself, and though I don’t currently own either a Swiss Arms or CZ 858 (I did own one of these in the past), I was certainly in agreement with the meme of “No Compromise” over reclassifications. That said, the NFA’s methodology towards lobbying, media communications and stated endgame certainly leaves a lot to be desired….And not only won’t achieve positive results, but could very possibly have the opposite effect. It would be akin to the NRA being run by college students with a Facebook, that alienate not only Democrats, but Republicans too……….Though I did purchase a lifetime membership several years ago with the org, I no longer intend to support the NFA with further donations, which I curtailed last year and stopped earlier this summer………and I am far from alone, with many members, gun clubs, hunting groups, retailers and industry doing the like……… At the end of the day, why would anyone continue to financially reward not only poor performance, but counterproductive policies and wholesale embarrassment…….though the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the warped wheel gets replaced.

To add, a report with Liberal Party comments: I'm surprised the CBC article didn't include Dion's comments.....

Not combined by me, it’s there stated policy and intent……..I think their intent is even alluded to in your OP article………Why would I lie? It won't be run on as a promise, as it will be made law by next ~March, but as part of their record on support for "Lawful Canadian hunters and sports shooters" etc........they are already including it in their donation seeking emails sent to party membership.

Zilch......But I did have an older uncle that had a 12.2 & 12.3 licence (on his death, several of his WW II era guns went to the CWM) and my father currently has a 12.6 licence for prohibited handguns………..

All three points have been combined to one mantra, with a common theme: Liberals banned lots of our gun and made us get licences, coupled with a list held by the RCMP so they can get the rest later----RCMP stole Albertans firearms----RCMP reclassified ~14k gun owners firearms------Harper Conservatives have yet to ban the RCMP & return our guns, hence Harper Conservatives are anti-gun and have never done ANYTHING for gun owners--------Gun Owners should vote Libertarian to teach Harper Conservatives a lesson unless they scrap the Liberals Firearms Act and deregulate gun ownership for all Canadians!!!!! Surprisingly, outside an initial influx of new members and donations after the reclassifications, the relevance of the NFA has been diminishing (post LGR binning) with their apparent inability to understand political realities and gain influence (unlike the CSSA), coupled by long-time members/donators, gun retailers, hunting & shooting clubs etc distancing themselves at a greater rate after their inane response during the then ongoing Moncton shootings.