Liberals ‘didn’t quite get it right’ on C-21 firearms amendment: minister – National | 24CA News
The federal authorities “didn’t quite get it right” when it introduced ahead a controversial modification to its proposed firearms laws, Justice Minister David Lametti says.
During a House of Commons public security committee assembly on Friday, the Liberals introduced ahead a movement that the beleaguered modification be “withdrawn.”
All members of the committee agreed, and the change was carried.
“We didn’t quite get it right,” Lametti mentioned, talking in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, aired Sunday. “It had a little too much reach.”
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The Liberal modification to Bill C-21, the federal government’s gun management laws, was tabled in a committee assembly in November and has confronted questions on how far it might have expanded the scope of weapons which can be prohibited in Canada.
The transfer prompted criticism from throughout the political spectrum, together with from members of the NDP who mentioned it might unfairly influence Indigenous hunters and rural Canadians, in addition to from quite a few hunters.
Montreal Canadiens star Carey Price additionally weighed in, calling the proposed laws “unjust.”
“It was never our intention to go after hunting rifles. It was always our intention to go after handguns and assault rifles,” Lametti advised Stephenson.
“We heard a number of important voices in the community, particularly PolySeSouvient, who wanted a definition, an evergreen definition, and so we tried it. We didn’t quite get it right.”
PolySeSouvient is a gun-control group whose spokeswoman, Nathalie Provost, was shot 4 instances in the course of the rampage at Montreal’s École Polytechnique in 1989.
On Friday, when the modification was dropped, Provost mentioned she was “shocked.”
“It is clear that the misinformation propagated by Conservative MPs and the gun lobby has won,” mentioned Provost, calling for the controversial modification, in addition to a second one dropped from the invoice in the identical movement, to be reintroduced.
Meanwhile, pro-gun teams just like the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights took to Twitter to name the choice “a small win” in a “bigger battle” to crush the firearms laws “entirely.”
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Speaking after the modification was dropped on Friday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre argued the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “desperately wanted to ban hunting rifles.”
“Today’s humiliating climbdown that we have forced Trudeau to make is a temporary pause in his plan to ban hunting rifles,” he mentioned.
Two months in the past, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised reporters on his manner into a cupboard assembly that he had “no plans” to drop his legislative push to enshrine a authorized definition for “assault-style” firearms — a time period that isn’t at the moment outlined in Canadian regulation, regardless of being recurrently utilized by Liberal politicians.
Automatic assault weapons are already prohibited in Canada.
“The definition is something that we are very much committed to. But the actual list that goes with it, that’s something that we’re consulting on right now,” Trudeau mentioned.
“Because we understand that there are concerns by hunters and farmers that we’re going after their shotguns and rifles. We are not. And that’s what we’re going to make sure with fine-tuning of the legislation.”
That fine-tuning will not be a straightforward course of, Lametti admitted.
“In fairness, it’s actually quite a difficult exercise to create an evergreen definition (for assault-style firearms),” he mentioned.
Looking ahead, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino mentioned on Friday that he plans to carry extra discussions and extra consultations on the problem with hunters and Indigenous communities.
“There have been legitimate concerns raised about the need for more consultation and debate on this vital part of the bill,” he wrote.
“We hear those concerns loud and clear, regret the confusion that this process has caused and are committed to a thoughtful and respectful conversation that is based on facts, not fear.”
This difficulty, he wrote, is an “emotional one.”
“Canadians are counting on us to get it right.”
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