Evidence of meeting #28 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was question.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
It was from a member of Parliament; it was a private member's bill. The party was writing a ten percenter that was sent across the country by one of their members on what was a private member's bill. It was more on events of the government, then, because it is coming from the party.
You said you were more or less satisfied, and I want to hear more about that. Was it a ten percenter?
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
When a ten percenter goes out, how many people do you think get it?
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
I know I got calls from people in Musquodoboit Harbour, in Fall River, in Eastern Passage, and in Preston. Those are the extremes of my riding, so an awful lot went out, because 10% of the riding would be Musquodoboit Harbour. It must have gone out to more than just 10%.
It's called a ten percenter, but you can send out more. We could send out a ten percenter every day.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
How do you know that people in your riding are pretty happy with the apology? The only place they could have seen it, if they had been in front of a television, was on CPAC.
Was it on the national news, after that, that he was apologizing?
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
No, sir. What happened was that once the apology was made, I called back all of the 28 people who contacted me checking my opinion on the gun registry and sent them the apology.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
There were 28 people I responded to. The anglers and hunters association, for example, received it, and they spoke on behalf of their members. But these are all people I worked with on the registry issue: police officers.... There is a neurosurgeon who is a trap and skeet shooter who called me up and said, “What in hell are you doing now?” I called them all back and I sent them the apology. Also, there was a small story about it in one of our local papers.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Is it possible, though, that other people who did not call you have made up their minds about what you have done, and they don't know about what happened?
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
The thing is that any time you send out a piece of paper.... We all know that some of our householders and ten percenters end up in the trash. They get it in the mailbox, and out it goes. A successful ten percenter or householder is one in which they see your face and name for two seconds and throw it away. That's considered a successful one.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
No, exactly. But the reality is, sir, that it's out there, and people may, at the next election time, say “Maybe he thinks this way, maybe he doesn't; I may exercise my vote....” But I can't speak individually for a constituent.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
My question is very clear. A ten percenter could go to thousands and thousands of people. Do you agree?
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
A ten percenter in your riding could go to thousands of people. If you call back 28 people, you will agree with me that this will not cover where the ten percenters went.