Northern Ontario MP Carol Hughes has become the fifth New Democrat to publicly change her position on the controversial long-gun registry, making it more likely the bill to dissolve the registry will fail.

Hughes helped to push a bill to abolish the registry through second reading, but now says she'll vote to defeat the measure. She told reporters Thursday she's "committing to improving" the "flawed" registry and "rejecting Stephen Harper's increasingly divisive campaign to scrap it outright."

NDP Leader Jack Layton told reporters: "I am confident we have the votes needed to defeat Bill C-391."

Government House Leader John Baird conceded it seemed more likely the bill would die, and lashed out at NDP members who he said were "flip-flopping" their position due to "pressure from Toronto elites."

"It is a bit disingenuous for people to be against the gun registry and voting against it as long as it was able to stay in place," Baird said.

"I obviously share the disappointment of many of my colleagues that people who had fought so long, so hard, so passionately against the registry are now feeling the pressure from the two Toronto leaders, Mr. Ignatieff and Mr. Layton."

Hughes said her decision was not made lightly.

"I have reviewed a years' worth of input from people across this riding--hundreds of mail-back cards, phone calls, notes from meetings and reports. And I can tell you that their views about the registry are rich and diverse, just like they are everywhere else in the country," she said.

"Should Ottawa have spent a billion dollars on this thing? I say no way, and so do most people around here," she added.

"But that start-up money is gone, and I want to look forward, not back. I think many people were surprised to learn this month that it now only costs a dime per Canadian to keep the registry running."

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, meanwhile, has told his caucus to vote against the private bill from going any further.

Liberal MP John McCallum said he's "absolutely convinced" all Liberal MPs will show up unanimously to kill the bill and preserve the gun registry.

The Bloc Quebecois says it will vote against the bill in a Commons vote next Wednesday. That puts the bill's fate in the hands of the NDP.

Layton has said his MPs can vote freely on private members' bills, but noted a "strong majority" of the NDP's rural caucus had decided to vote against the bill.

Nova Scotia's NDP MP Peter Stoffer is holding a news conference on Monday, when he is also expected to announce he'll vote to keep the registry.

Hughes said she supports Layton's initiative to fix the registry to make it more palatable to rural voters, including decriminalizing first offences if they don't include other crimes, and respecting the treaty rights of First Nations people.

She condemned Harper's increasingly bitter campaign against the registry and singled out Conservative MPs who describe police associations as "special-interest groups."

"All of the major Canadian policing organizations say the registry is helping front-line officers keep our communities safer and we need to give them the tools to succeed," she said.

With files from The Canadian Press