The National Post reports that the Bloc Quebecois invited MPs to a day at the movies.

Bloc leader, Gilles Duceppe, invited MPs to screen a movie based on the 1989 massacre that inspired Canada's strict gun-control laws. Polytechnique is a film about the Dec. 6, 1989, shootings that killed 14 women at Montreal's École Polytechnique.

"The screening … is to sensitize parliamentarians to the magnitude of such a tragedy, as well as to stress the importance of gun control," said a news release attached to the invitation.

This used to be called propaganda.

This is a new low for a parliamentary party; attempting to make decisions based on Hollywood's version of a massacre. The facts are a matter of public record. Should the facts not be the source of our decisions? Will decisions regarding safe use of tools begin with a viewing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a movie based in the 1954-1957 murders committed by Ed Gein? Of course not, but such a juxtaposition reveals the absurdity of using art to determine law.

I believe these antics are those of politicians crusading on the despair of families that have undergone immense emotional trauma.

As an eyewitness to the horrific events in my own family's murder/suicide shootings, I can attest that the Bloc's political manoeuvring is deceptive, dishonest, and will do nothing to prevent similar tragedies from recurring.

Parliamentary policies and decisions must be based in fact. CHP Canada has looked at the real problem in developing our policies.

The actual problem is the assailant! But, it's easier to disarm honest law abiding hunters than to get tough with thugs. Yes, urban communities like Vancouver and Toronto have too many shootings, but let's not kid ourselves, no amount of legislation is going to cause criminals to register their illegal guns. The solution is more policing, better equipment, and tougher sentencing for criminals. We must get tough on criminals, and not on our sportsmen.

The problem with Parliament making laws based on the 'Hollywood version' of events is that movies are designed to exploit our emotions. They do not deal in the facts of the case; they jazz it up to ensure we get full emotional impact.

But, who among us makes our best decisions when our emotions are elevated?

The Conservatives buckled on their promise to get rid of the long gun registry. Fear of not being re-elected is a powerful tool! They sabotaged their own MP Garry Breitkreuz's private members bill to get rid of the gun registry by introducing their own bill in the Senate which will not do away with the long gun registry. Rather, it will make the registry paperless and create 13 provincial and territorial bureaucracies instead of the current single registry in Miramichi, New Brunswick.

They have allowed fear to dictate policy. They have allowed their attachment to power to punish law abiding Canadians rather than criminals. This is not a solution!

CHP Policy, 6.8.1 (b), states that justice has several objectives and aspirations: "to make clear, by measure of the severity of punishment, what are the greater and lesser offences."

The massacre at École Polytechnique was a tragedy. But, punishing law abiding citizens for the offences of criminals is an abuse of justice. To manipulate the emotions of MPs in an effort to exact the desired outcome in public policy is an abuse of office. To make decisions based on a fictionalized account of an actual event is a recipe for disastrous laws.