Yukon MP Larry Bagnell continues to sidestep questions on which way he will vote on Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to kill Canada's long-gun registry.

"Right up to the very end, I need to know what my options are right up until the (vote) unfolds,” Bagnell told the Star today from Yellowknife, N.W.T., where he joined federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff on his cross-country tour.

"That's the way things happen; you never know how things are going to unfold, but it doesn't look like there will be any options for me.”

In April, Ignatieff told the Canadian Police Association that the Liberal party wold oppose the Conservatives' plans to scrap the registry, putting Bagnell and eight other Liberal MPs in a difficult position as they have twice voted in favour of Hoeppner's bill.

MPs are generally free to vote their conscience on private member's bills, but on this issue, Ignatieff is whipping the Liberal caucus to vote with the party.

Rural areas comprise fewer seats in Parliament and the impression is that Ignatieff is ignoring the wishes of rural constituents to pander to riding-rich southern Canada.

While Bagnell has previously suggested he would stand with his party, today, he would not answer a direct question on which way he will vote on the crucial day – expected at the end of September, when Hoeppner's bill comes before Parliament for its third and final reading.

This past spring, Bagnell was the target of a slate of Conservative radio ads directed at the Yukon riding, as well as those of Scott Andrews, Scott Sims, Anthony Rota, Keith Martin, Wayne Easter, Jean-Claude D'Amours and Todd Russell, all Liberal MPs who previously supported scrapping the long-gun registry.

Yesterday, the Conservative Party upped the propaganda stakes, depositing Hoeppner in Whitehorse to push her message to Yukoners in an attempt to sway Bagnell.

"I'm going to be there for three days, and if Larry has time to meet, I would be happy to,” said Hoeppner, who speaks tonight at a rally at the Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre organized by the Yukon Fish and Game Association.

"But I would say Larry is a little cool towards meeting me, and doesn't want to talk with me much.”

Last week, during an appearance on The Current, Bagnell told the CBC radio program's guest-host, Nancy Wilson that he had not asked Ignatieff if he could simply skip the vote.

Asked by Wilson, if he thought of, "... just not show(ing) up”, Bagnell responded that he had not yet explored that possibility.

More than a week later, Bagnell has yet to ask his leader if that is an option.

"I haven't asked Michael Ignatieff that,” he said.

In an interview with the Star in April, Bagnell said he preferred if it were a free vote, adding that, "he may not have a choice.”

And this morning, Bagnell at least remained consistent with that message.

"I've made it quite clear, that I would be exploring options right up until the vote, but it doesn't appear that I've been offered any leeway,” he said.

Bagnell was not the Yukon's MP when the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien installed a national gun registry, but he was roundly criticized for abstaining from a March 2003 vote that provided an additional $60 million to the registry.

Bagnell said he abstained because he would have been expelled from the Liberal caucus for voting against the financial top-up. But with the Liberals still enjoying a majority government, it was a whipped vote Bagnell could afford to miss.

Now faced with toeing the party line, Bagnell is touting Liberal-proposed amendments to Hoeppner's bill that would decriminalize a first offence for failing to register a firearm and another that would waive any costs associated with the registry.

Yesterday, Hoeppner acknowledged Bagnell is in a "bad position,” and called his vote "crucial,” as she expects the tally to be close.

During first and second readings of her bill, 21 opposition MPs (eight Liberals, 12 NDPs and one independent) voted in favour of it. NDP Leader Jack Layton is against killing the long-gun registry, but, unlike Ignatieff, is permitting NDP members a free vote.

But as the politicking heats up, some NDP members who originally supported scrapping the long-gun registry are trickling into the camp of those who want it saved.

In 2002, Auditor General Sheila Fraser reported the registry's cost had spiralled to 500 times the Liberals' original estimate of $2 million.

Currently, the annual cost of operating the registry, which to date has documented ownership of seven million firearms in Canada, is approximately $4 million.

Police chiefs and frontline officers across the country are strong supporters of the long-gun registry because it can alert them of potential weapons in a particular residence which police may be called on to visit.