A cabinet bill to restrict hunting rifles faces months-long delays that will drag into next spring. Opposition MPs yesterday voted 6 to 5 to block attempts to rush the bill through the Commons public safety committee, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“We are out of time,” said Liberal MP Ron McKinnon (Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, B.C.), chair of the committee. “This is the Wild West we’re in right now,” added McKinnon..Conservative, Bloc Québécois and New Democrat MPs proposed eight public hearings on the bill. An opposition motion suggested the committee travel “across Canada as soon as possible to rural, northern and indigenous communities to hear from impacted individuals.”.Chair McKinnon noted cross-country hearings would delay consideration of the bill until the start of the next fiscal year beginning April 1, 2023. “As a practical matter we probably can’t travel until at least April,” said McKinnon..Bill C-21 An Act To Amend Certain Acts was introduced in the Commons last May 30. It proposed to ban new sales of licensed handguns in Canada..Cabinet subsequently issued an August 19 executive order banning legal imports of handguns under the Export And Import Permits Act, the same law used to restrict imports of Wisconsin cheese. A second November 9 order under the Firearms Act banned domestic handgun sales..Liberal MPs in the public safety committee subsequently introduced November 24 amendments to the unfinished Bill C-21 to ban use of “a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun that is capable of discharging centre fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner.” Cabinet also attempted to attached to the bill a lengthy schedule of prohibited guns by make and model..“I do think it’s offensive,” Conservative MP Raquel Dancho (Kildonan-St. Paul, Man.) yesterday told the committee. The proposed amendments were so broad they would ban lever action rifles, “obviously classic hunting rifles,” said Dancho..“We’re talking classic wood stock hunting rifles that are being used that will be banned by this,” said Dancho. “That’s really the problem we’re coming down to. I don’t necessarily see a path forward.”.New Democrat MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan-Malahat, B.C.) said initial support for Bill C-21 had evaporated due to cabinet’s amendment to broaden its scope. “Some members of my caucus had not received one single piece of correspondence until this amendment dropped and now it’s making up half their correspondence,” said MacGregor..“In politics, as in life, trust is easily broken but it’s extremely hard to repair,” said MacGregor. “The way this amendment landed has frankly been a complete and total abuse of process.”.Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville) said the bill now appeared stalled for months. “Because we decided to go on trips we’re going to hold this legislation back until April at the earliest?” asked Noormohamed..“The idea we would now sit, effectively unable to move this legislation forward, at the very least until we return from whatever travel in April and then try to spend three weeks trying to do this, to me I just don’t understand,” said Noormohamed.
A cabinet bill to restrict hunting rifles faces months-long delays that will drag into next spring. Opposition MPs yesterday voted 6 to 5 to block attempts to rush the bill through the Commons public safety committee, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“We are out of time,” said Liberal MP Ron McKinnon (Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, B.C.), chair of the committee. “This is the Wild West we’re in right now,” added McKinnon..Conservative, Bloc Québécois and New Democrat MPs proposed eight public hearings on the bill. An opposition motion suggested the committee travel “across Canada as soon as possible to rural, northern and indigenous communities to hear from impacted individuals.”.Chair McKinnon noted cross-country hearings would delay consideration of the bill until the start of the next fiscal year beginning April 1, 2023. “As a practical matter we probably can’t travel until at least April,” said McKinnon..Bill C-21 An Act To Amend Certain Acts was introduced in the Commons last May 30. It proposed to ban new sales of licensed handguns in Canada..Cabinet subsequently issued an August 19 executive order banning legal imports of handguns under the Export And Import Permits Act, the same law used to restrict imports of Wisconsin cheese. A second November 9 order under the Firearms Act banned domestic handgun sales..Liberal MPs in the public safety committee subsequently introduced November 24 amendments to the unfinished Bill C-21 to ban use of “a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun that is capable of discharging centre fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner.” Cabinet also attempted to attached to the bill a lengthy schedule of prohibited guns by make and model..“I do think it’s offensive,” Conservative MP Raquel Dancho (Kildonan-St. Paul, Man.) yesterday told the committee. The proposed amendments were so broad they would ban lever action rifles, “obviously classic hunting rifles,” said Dancho..“We’re talking classic wood stock hunting rifles that are being used that will be banned by this,” said Dancho. “That’s really the problem we’re coming down to. I don’t necessarily see a path forward.”.New Democrat MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan-Malahat, B.C.) said initial support for Bill C-21 had evaporated due to cabinet’s amendment to broaden its scope. “Some members of my caucus had not received one single piece of correspondence until this amendment dropped and now it’s making up half their correspondence,” said MacGregor..“In politics, as in life, trust is easily broken but it’s extremely hard to repair,” said MacGregor. “The way this amendment landed has frankly been a complete and total abuse of process.”.Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville) said the bill now appeared stalled for months. “Because we decided to go on trips we’re going to hold this legislation back until April at the earliest?” asked Noormohamed..“The idea we would now sit, effectively unable to move this legislation forward, at the very least until we return from whatever travel in April and then try to spend three weeks trying to do this, to me I just don’t understand,” said Noormohamed.
