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© a OPINION “BANNING HUNTING alton Hills | Thursday, December 22, = EXPANDING BILL C21 NOT THE ANSWER, WRITES MICHAEL CHONG MICHAEL CHONG Column Last May, the federal government introduced a bill that would ban hand- s, . Last month, the Liber- als extended the scope of their bill. They introduced an amendment to extend the ban to include a num- er of rifles and shotguns, long been used in Canada would be banned. Many of these hunting rifles are commonly used by hunters and Canada’s gens Peoples, in- cludin; who use these rifles tol tohuntfor food. Many have voiced their op- position to the bill and its amendment, including the premiers of Canada's three northern territories and the chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations. is month, the chiefs ernment's proposed ban on hunting rifles. This is quite the rebuke toa government that has made Indigenous reconciliation a central § priorit 2 More importantly, any RIFLES WON'T SOLVE OUR GUN PROBLEM ban on hunting rifles miss- es a bigger point. Canada has a problem with illegal handguns in large cities, not legal hunt- ing rifles in rural commu- nities. Violent crime is surging in Canada. Statistics Cana- da's violent crime severity index, which tracks vio- lent crime, rose from 75.34 in 2015 to 92.50 in 2021 —a shocking 2: 23 per cent in- crease. Gang-related homi- cides have increased 29 per cent during the same peri- od. Going after law-abiding hunters in rural and Indig- enous communities won't reduce the handgun vio- lence in large cities. Com- mon-sense policies that keep guns out of the hands of criminals is what is needed. Rather than targeting hunting rifles, Criminal Code penalties should be in- creased for illegally smug- gling guns. Locking up the most violent, repeat of- fenders should be priority; too often they are released when they should be incar- cerated. In addition, law en- forcement should be beefed ‘up to stem the flow of illegal handguns coming across the Canada-US. border. For all these reasons, I am opposed to pul C-21and its amendment: fichael Chong is the MP for aoticadbladh fa foe Hills, and the shadow min- ister of ‘foreign affairs for ihe Official oppositio in. He an be reached ai Chae chonnadtoperl ge.ca, SIGN UP FOR OUR bi it emer AT TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFPCA SNAPSHOT Tony Fortunato photo Awhite-throated sparrow visits a backyard on Trafalgar Road. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. INTEREST RATE HIKES PAINFUL BUT NECESSARY INCREASES NEEDED TO HELP STABILIZE ECONOMY, WRITES PETER WATSON There's a whole lot of fi- nancial pain beinginflicted on Canadians. This comes from the Bank of Canada raising in- terest rates again by one half of one per cent. This is the seventh time in 2022 the central bank has raised in- terest rates. In my opinion, the BOC is not to blame. An expres- sion I have used in past ar- ticles is this is an example of the BOC exerting "tough love." Most Canadians under- stand inflation has been far above the target rate of two per cent. PETER WATSON Column Many Canadians are ex- periencing financial suffo- cation with rising prices. With respect to the Ca- nadian economy or how we all manage our household finances, inflation is a real and significant problem. A good stable economy is key. Without it, Canadi- ans cannot build and main- tain a financially secure life. The cold reality is some Canadians are less equipped to handle infla- tion or cope with increas- ing interest rates inflicted our central bank. Higher interest rates to contro] inflation is a neces- sary evil. Yes, it inflicts pain on many, but the pain would be higher over time without the decisive action of increasing interest rates. This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division ofthe Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are heir concems. Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca , soca newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress. Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Neil Oliver Vice President, Content, Community and Operations Dana Robbins Regional General Manager Jason Peho! Director of Content Lee Ann Water Deputy Director rot Content Catherine O'Hara pal tk Editor Director of Distribution Charlene Hall Circulation Manager ‘i sman Cindi Campbell and Graeme Macintosh Director Creative Services Paul Gostlin CONE US pre- vious interest rate hikes have started to control in- flation. That is a positive sign because the more quickly inflation is under control, the quicker inter- est rates can start to be re- duced. will be good news forthe thee economy and for the many coping with the strains of high interest rates are on their debt. Peter Watson, of Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, REP, CIM®, FCSI offers a weekly financial plai ning column, Dollars © Sense. 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