Skeena-Bulkley Valley Gun Petition makes for House of Commons tempest in opening week

Conservative MP Damien Kurek from Alberta introduced a petition
from Skeena-Bulkley Valley, a presentation that set of some 
Parliamentary fireworks earlier this week

The introduction of a petition  signed by residents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley has made for some fascinating political theatre in the House of Commons, with calls for apologies and some making for some positioning for the upcoming election campaign all part of the narrative. 

The drama-a-rama of the Commons began with the  introduction of the Skeena-Bulley Valley petition by a Member of Parliament from Alberta, with Battle River-Crowfoot MP  Damien Kurek stating that the petition had been refused to be presented by the NDP MP for the riding Taylor Bachrach.

The Petition listed as 441-02026 notes of 28 signatures from Skeena-Bulkley Valley

"Mr. Speaker, as always, it is an honour to stand in this place and present petitions. I am presenting a unique petition today, because this particular petition was offered to the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, but he refused to present it in this place. 

 Therefore, I stand on behalf of the people of Skeena—Bulkley Valley and present this petition that calls for a number of things, highlights the absurdity of Liberal gun rules and calls upon the Government of Canada to stop any and all current and future bans on hunting and sport shooting firearms. 

 It is an honour to stand in this place on behalf of the people of Skeena—Bulkley Valley and represent them, because their MP certainly is not. "--  Battle River-Crowfoot ConservativeMP  Damien Kurek

That last line led to a range of contributions from a number of MPs towards the nature of the presentation and whether it adhered to the rules of Parliament

The topic one that the Skeena-Bulkley Valley Conservatives have highlighted in a video compilation through their Social Media stream.

To get a better understanding of the Tuesday tempest in the House of Commons, The North Coast Review reached out to the Member of Parliament's Ottawa office, seeking some clarification on the situation. 

The reply from Legislative Assistant Margaret Crew noted that the MP "never received a request to sponsor the petition, but he did have an odd in-person interaction with a Conservative Party activist in Smithers who asked him to sign the petition (which, as a parliamentarian, he doesn’t do)." 

A further observation charts some of the political temperature both in Ottawa and in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding as the election speculation period heats up this year.

"It’s simply political game playing on the part of the Conservatives. Taylor is focused on priorities like securing federal funds for Prince Rupert’s water infrastructure, delivering dental care and building affordable housing."

The correspondence also observed  on some of Mr. Bachrach's past work on the issue of firearms.

Noting that the MP "is proud of his work pushing back against the Liberal government’s ill-advised amendments that would have affected people in the northwest who use hunting rifles and shotguns."

To highlight that theme, a presentation in the House of December 8th  by the MP in the House of Commons was included in the reply.

Mr. Bachrach's spokesperson also noted that from the day's proceedings that the MP's were made to apologize by the Speaker, though from the day's proceedings you have to parse a lot of words to find any Conservative versions of mea culpa.

The events of January 30th also served it seems to reinforce the Conservatives lack of faith in the Speaker of the House MP Greg Fergus.

So far, the Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP has yet to respond to the theatre of earlier this week in the House through his Social media platforms of Facebook or Twitter X.

The Conservative focus on the Northwest riding from this early start however should serve as a preview of more to come as the Parliamentary session moves forward.

As we saw and heard last month in Prince Rupert, the Conservatives clearly believe that with Ellis Ross as their nominee, the prospect of toppling the NDP in Skeena-Bulkley Valley is something that they believe is doable.

And from that, we imagine that this riding will see much more attention, a lot more rhetoric and much more political theatre in the House and away from it as a pre election narrative.

More notes on themes from the House of Commons can be reviewed here.