Tragedy in Toronto

Yesterday in downtown Toronto there was a terrifying gunfight which left six people injured and one 15 year-old girl dead. All seven of these people were innocent bystanders. The area in which this horrific shooting took place is not some out-of-the-way slum or project neighborhood, but in the centre of our city. Don't misunderstand me- I absolutely do not mean that this would be ok if it were at Jane and Finch; I mean that it is time for us Torontonians to wake up and realize that gun violence is a problem for everyone, not just poor black disaffected youth.

Clearly we have a problem in this city, and clearly, we have not yet figured out how to deal with it. Enter Steven Harper: Now here's a guy who's running for the country's top job, and god forbid something like this should happen and he not use it to his political advantage. In response to the shootings, Harper makes the following statements:

"I've said before: Mr. Martin's proposed ban on handguns is really no different than the current law," ..."We've basically banned handguns in this country. The problem is this is the first government in our history that seems unable to enforce our gun laws, and I think obviously this is just the consequence of 12 years of lax criminal justice law enforcement."

Wow. Stephen Harper knows what the problem is! It turns out that gun violence in Toronto is all Mr. Martin's fault. If only this were true! It would mean that all we would have to do is get rid of Martin's Liberals, and poof!, gun violence in Toronto would disappear. Perhaps if Mr. Harper could move beyond blaming his competition and actually offer a positive suggestion as to how his government might deal with this extremely complex social problem, I might believe him. Until then, it would probably be best if he refrained from using other people's personal tragedies as part of his electoral strategy.