Unlike his vote on Wednesday, Peter Stoffer isn’t taking a side on whether he’ll survive the political storm over his decision to switch and vote to save the long-gun registry. “I’ll leave that up to the electorate,” he proclaimed Thursday.
Stoffer has taken a self-described “major hit” politically after announcing Monday he was switching sides and voting to save the controversial legislation.
His decision came after voting several times previously to kill a registry he remains “adamantly against.”
In the end, Stoffer delivered what turned out to be the deciding vote on Wednesday night in the House of Commons as MPs voted down a Tory private member’s bill to scrap the registry, 153-151.
“It’s the most difficult political decision I’ve ever made,” he said.
The long-gun registry debate is expected to be front-and-centre again as the Tories say they’ll make it an issue in the next federal election — and it could mean lost votes for the popular NDP MP.
“But if one issue determines a person’s vote, and they don’t care about any other issues, there’s not much a politician can do about that,” he said.