I am including the questions I asked of the candidates, followed by the replies I have received from 3 of the 4 candidates. Only the Liberal candidate has not replied. Please excuse my inclusion of the question regarding the gun registry, but it is very important to me. Laurie Patterson Uxbridge Township, Ontario -----Original Message----- From: Laurie Patterson [mailto:lauriep@netrover.com] Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 6:40 PM To: 'greenervin@hotmail.com'; 'langt@teammartin.ca'; 'bev@bevoda.ca'; 'barogers@sympatico.ca' Subject: Questions for candidates Candidates: As none of you are incumbents you are probably not aware of the following issue. Several private members bills have been presented in Parliament, but have died on the order paper as elections have been called. For at least 6 years a large number of genealogists in Canada and around the world have been trying to obtain access to post-1901 census records of Canada. According to present legislation, care and control of census records are to be given to the National Archives 92 years after being collected. Currently, the Chief Statistician, Ivan P. Fellegi refuses to pass control of the 1911 census (it should have been released in June 2003) to the National Archivist as he, (we believe erroneously), believes that a never-ending promise of confidentiality prevents their release. You may research this issue at the following web-site. http://globalgenealogy.com/Census Incidentally, as a comparison, the U.S. releases its census records after 72 years, and the U.K. after 100 years. My questions to each of you are: 1. Are you in favour of releasing the census records of Canada 92 years after being collected? 2. If elected, would you support our attempts to have the 92-year-old census records released for research by genealogists, historians or family members searching for their roots? One further question on a different subject. As you are probably aware, many citizens believe that long-gun registration is the first step toward confiscation, and have been turned into criminals because they refused to comply with this ineffectual legislation, designed to appeal to urban dwellers as being "seen to be doing something" to combat crime. However, the problem is that only law-abiding citizens would register their rifles and shotguns, and criminals do not register their handguns, sawed-off shotguns and the like. In view of this: 3. Are you in favour of abolishing the gun registry? 4. Would you support an attempt by either the party in power or an opposition party to abolish the gun registry? My vote in this election will depend on your answers. I look forward to your replies. Please understand that no reply or a reply that does not answer all four questions will automatically result in no vote. Sincerely, Laurie Patterson lauriep@netrover.com --------------- Reply from Bev Oda, Conservative candidate ------------------------------- Good afternoon Mr. Patterson Thank you for taking the time to re-send that email. The answer to your first question, which we would like to point out our candidate stated publicly at a debate held last week at the Courtice Ratepayers Association, is "I 'm not very familiar with this issue but I see no reason why this could not be done". Your second question is an easy one to answer as the Conservative Party's platform outlines its plan to repeal the wasteful long gun registry registration. If elected, a Conservative government will work with the provinces on cost-effective gun-control programs designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals while respecting the rights of law-abiding Canadians to own and use firearms responsibly. These measures will include, amongst others: . Mandatory minimum penalties for the criminal use of firearms and their illegal possession . Strict monitoring of high-risk individuals . Putting more law enforcement officers on our streets. The gun registry has been extremely ineffective and a colossal waste of tax dollars. We in the Conservative Party of Canada believe that we should be registering sex offenders - NOT law abiding citizens. I hope we have been able to answer your questions clearly and also hope we can count on you for your support. The Bev Oda Team Clarington-Scugog-Uxbridge --------------- Reply from Virginia Ervin, Green Party candidate ------------------------------- Hello Laurie, First of all, I would like to explain to you the reasoning behind my delayed response. In order for me to run this campaign, it is necessary for me to work a full time job. I work Mon. - Fri. from 8am - 4:30pm and I have no access to my email when I am there. All of the money that I have earned has gone into my campaign, every penny. I have not asked a single person for a dime because I wanted to do this for everyone else. Also, I personally respond to every email that is sent to me. I do not have someone else putting words in my mouth, therefore it takes me a little longer to reply. I did not mean to make you feel as though you were being ignored. There are several hundred citizens living in this riding, to say the least. I am only one person so I can not speak to everyone at once. I wish I could but I do not have the $$ for that sort of thing. These issues are of much concern to me. I for one would like to be able to access the census information from that time period. It just might help me with the family tree my aunt has been working on for years. There is no reason why this information can not be made accessible to the public and I for one would like to know just what it is that they are hiding. Secondly, as for the gun registry, I personally feel that it was nothing more then a waste of our precious time and hard earned money. How has it benefited our society? How many lives has it saved? How many guns did it take away from the hands of criminals? If you want my opinion, I think the hunters and farmers are the ones who felt the pinch from this the most. Hunters are not criminals (unless they are poachers) so why treat them as though they are a threat? Farmers are not a threat to our society, they keep food in our bellies so we can survive. I understand that the police use this information so that they know which houses have guns and which ones supposedly do not. If a criminal owns a gun, do you think that he/she is going to put their little white flag into the air and blatantly tell the police where to find them? I highly doubt it! If the police want to know which houses have guns in them then they need to find a different way of approaching this. Too many Canadians are fed up with this poor excuse for a "Gun Registry" and I am not afraid to say what I think about it. I think that we should revise the situation and if there is no evidence that it has benefited our society in any way then I say we get rid of it! I hope that this was a sufficient enough answer for you and your comrades. Once again I would like to apologize for the delayed response but just remember that no matter how long it takes, the public deserves to know the answer! I will be looking forward to hearing from you again and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! If there is something that I can do for you in the future, please let me know. Thank you for your interest and support. Take care till next time and keep on smiling! Virginia Ervin Clarington-Scugog-Uxbridge Green Party of Ontario Canada --------------- Reply from Bruce Rogers, NDP candidate ------------------------------- Dear Laurie: I don't recall receiving an e-mail from you about the gun control or census issues. However, I've made it clear at all candidates meetings that I favour the release of the census information. It's about us. We have a right to know. I don't believe there is a significant privacy issue for the deceased or for their progeny. I favour the gun registry. It's clear we need to stem the tide of small arms across the border and onto our streets. But the registry gives police at least one source of information when they are called to domestic disputes and other situations. We don't stop registering cars or licensing drivers simply because a number of unlawful people drive when under license suspension. What I don't understand is how the Liberals managed to spend so many of our hard earned tax dollars on what should have been a simple system. But they managed to waste a lot of our dollars on a lot of boondoggles didn't they? Sincerely, Bruce Rogers Candidate Clarington Scugog Uxbridge.

Laurie and others:- When I asked two candidates at Sunnybrook Veteran's Wing last thursday, both John Godfrey and David Turnbull were asked the same two questions:- 1. Their views and opinions of 1911 census release 2. Helicopters for east and west coast to replace ancient Sea Kings. Both John (incumbent) and David (candidate) were very positive. Very possibly the URL for Automated Genealogy should be used, invite them to open the 1901 census and see how little information is on the one page. One could explain microfiche has two pages, but no amounts of money or worldly wealth is given. Watch out for the Toronto area ridings, including my Brampton ones, these seem to be the main ones to make or break the Ontario numbers. Muriel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Laurie Patterson" <lauriep@netrover.com> To: <CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 12:34 AM Subject: [CCC] Re: Candidates positions in Clarington--Scugog--Uxbridge riding > I am including the questions I asked of the candidates, followed by the > replies I have received from 3 of the 4 candidates. Only the Liberal > candidate has not replied. > > Please excuse my inclusion of the question regarding the gun registry, but > it is very important to me. > > Laurie Patterson > Uxbridge Township, Ontario > > -----Original Message----- > From: Laurie Patterson [mailto:lauriep@netrover.com] > Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 6:40 PM > To: 'greenervin@hotmail.com'; 'langt@teammartin.ca'; 'bev@bevoda.ca'; > 'barogers@sympatico.ca' > > Subject: Questions for candidates > > Candidates: > > As none of you are incumbents you are probably not aware of the following > issue. > > Several private members bills have been presented in Parliament, but have > died on the order paper as elections have been called. For at least 6 years > a large number of genealogists in Canada and around the world have been > trying to obtain access to post-1901 census records of Canada. According to > present legislation, care and control of census records are to be given to > the National Archives 92 years after being collected. Currently, the Chief > Statistician, Ivan P. Fellegi refuses to pass control of the 1911 census (it > should have been released in June 2003) to the National Archivist as he, (we > believe erroneously), believes that a never-ending promise of > confidentiality prevents their release. You may research this issue at the > following web-site. > > http://globalgenealogy.com/Census > > Incidentally, as a comparison, the U.S. releases its census records after 72 > years, and the U.K. after 100 years. > > My questions to each of you are: > > 1. Are you in favour of releasing the census records of Canada 92 years > after being collected? > > 2. If elected, would you support our attempts to have the 92-year-old census > records released for research by genealogists, historians or family members > searching for their roots? > > One further question on a different subject. > > As you are probably aware, many citizens believe that long-gun registration > is the first step toward confiscation, and have been turned into criminals > because they refused to comply with this ineffectual legislation, designed > to appeal to urban dwellers as being "seen to be doing something" to combat > crime. However, the problem is that only law-abiding citizens would > register their rifles and shotguns, and criminals do not register their > handguns, sawed-off shotguns and the like. In view of this: > > 3. Are you in favour of abolishing the gun registry? > > 4. Would you support an attempt by either the party in power or an > opposition party to abolish the gun registry? > > My vote in this election will depend on your answers. I look forward to > your replies. > > Please understand that no reply or a reply that does not answer all four > questions will automatically result in no vote. > > Sincerely, > Laurie Patterson > lauriep@netrover.com