OTTAWA - OTTAWA — Another northern Ontario New Democrat has switched sides for the upcoming gun registry vote.

Nickel Belt's Claude Gravelle announced Friday he will vote against Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to scrap the controversial long-gun registry later this month.

He's the third New Democrat from northern Ontario in the past few weeks to switch sides and support the registry.

Timmins' Charlie Angus and Sudbury's Glenn Thibeault said they were also going to vote to save the registry.

All three were part of a group of 12 NDP MPs who sided with the government last November to scrap it.

Gravelle said he now supports the registry because of the Conservatives' anti-cop rhetoric and their desire to use the issue as a wedge between urban and rural Canadians.

"While I planned to further my discussions with caucus colleagues in Regina and announce my plans in Nickel Belt, the mounting rhetoric and divisive debate egged on by Conservative MPs has convinced me that I needed to make a decision sooner rather than later,” Gravelle said from Revelstoke, B.C., in a statement released Friday.

He said he had hoped there would be a “real opportunity” to improve the bill and fix the registry at committee.

“Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Conservatives had no interest in working collaboratively with other parliamentarians because they had intended all along to use this bill as a fundraising tool, and as a cynical way of dividing rural and urban Canadians,” Gravelle said. “I will therefore be voting against Bill C-391."

Hoeppner's bill passed second reading in November with the support of eight Liberals and 12 NDP MPs.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has said he'll whip the third and final vote on the registry's fate later this month, while NDP Leader Jack Layton has said his members are free to vote however they'd like.

The party is divided, with urban MPs supporting the registry and rural New Democrats initially opposing it.

Assuming all MPs show up to vote, Hoeppner will need at least five of the New Democrats who support scrapping the registry to vote with the government, as well as the two independent MPs who are opposed to the registry.

On Sept. 22, before the gun registry vote, the House of Commons will vote on a Liberal motion to throw out Hoeppner’s bill.

bryn.weese@sunmedia.ca