Tory MP under fire for giving pro-gun speech to teens

OTTAWA – Saskatchewan Tory MP Garry Breitkreuz found himself in hot water Thursday after an Ottawa mother complained he told a Grade 10 class that everyone in Canada should be armed – especially girls.

Dianna Sakisheway wrote a scathing letter to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews this week. Her complaint stems from a speech Breitkreuz – known as the father of the legislation to repeal the long- gun registry – gave during a career day at Canterbury High School on March 7.

“I am outraged at the irresponsible conduct of the federal government in promoting gun violence to schoolchildren,” Sakisheway wrote. “You have gone much too far.

“Mr. Breitkreuz spent most of his allotted time discussing firearms and cited a Texas study that showed women who carry guns are less likely to get raped, including a specific number of women who avoided rape as they were armed,” Sakisheway wrote in another letter obtained by Postmedia News.

“Stop assaulting the sensibilities of our children,” she wrote.

Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MP Judy Foote – who was copied on the letter of complaint to Toews – raised the issue in Question Period on Thursday.

“Does the minister of public safety agree with his colleagues’ extreme position that children should be carrying loaded guns into the schoolyard?” she asked.

Breitkreuz denied having made any such statements, and asked Foote to withdraw her statement and apologize to him.

“This is completely unfounded,” he said. “It’s absurd and totally without foundations.”

Foote offered no such apology, and offered to table the letter for all to see.

Sakisheway told Postmedia News that she is “just a mother” and has no political associations. She said she wrote the letter at the insistence of her daughter, who, like some of her friends, was offended and would not let the issue go.