Target shoot fundraiser being held for Oshawa Tory MP

Conservatives in Oshawa, Ont., hope a “family friendly” event at a shooting range will scare up some funds for their candidate in the upcoming federal election.

MP Colin Carrie is billed as the special guest at the Long Range Target Shoot Fundraiser scheduled for this Saturday.

“This event is an annual favourite for many, affording supporters the opportunity to safely handle and discharge a wide assortment of firearms with the assistance of trained and seasoned firearms owners,” reads the event invitation, which was posted to Facebook with the caption “Another great family friendly event.”

A BBQ lunch is included in the $65 ticket price for the fundraiser being held at the Orono Fish and Hunt Club, which says on its website it has about 300 members.

It’s at least the second time the Conservative riding association in Oshawa has held such a fundraiser for Carrie. Photos on the group’s Facebook page show him “shooting targets” at an event last September.

A spokeswoman for the riding association referred questions about the event to the shooting range.

Heather McConaghy, director and event chair for the Oshawa Conservative Electoral District Association, said only that range officers will be on site “to enforce the safety regulations of the club.”

Neither the club nor Carrie was immediately available for comment.

Carrie, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of the Environment, has been an MP since 2004. He previously served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Industry.

He gets a “green light” from the Campaign Life Coalition, and is rated “pro-life, pro-family,” in part because he voted in favour of a motion to study whether a child in the womb is a human being.

The Conservative government made changes to the gun laws earlier this year, the most notable being a six-month grace period after a firearms licence expires, so that owners caught in “paperwork delays” between renewals are not breaking the law.