Tories to scrap long-gun registry this fall

JEFF DAVIS
Postmedia News

OTTAWA — The Conservative government will introduce legislation in the fall to scrap the long-gun registry, this time using its parliamentary majority to back it up.

The vote will be an early test of unity for Canada’s new official Opposition — the NDP — which wrangled with internal disagreement over the contentious issue when it was voted on as a private member’s bill in 2010.

Manitoba MP Candice Hoeppner, the Tory backbencher who introduced the failed private member’s bill last year, said earlier this week the government will kill the registry soon after Parliament resumes.

“Everyone knows it’s been part of our party’s policy for many years, and the prime minister committed to Canadians during the election we would scrap the long-gun registry,” she told Postmedia News. “We’re going to follow through on that commitment.”

“Canadians can expect to see it fairly early on in the fall,” she added. “It’s a priority for our government.”

Hoeppner’s private member’s bill, introduced in 2009, proposed to exempt hunting rifles and shotguns from the registry. Registry requirements would remain for restricted weapons, such as handguns. Military assault rifles, sniper rifles and submachine guns would continue to be prohibited.

In October 2010, the bill was killed by an opposition motion, which passed by a slim margin of 153-151. The motion was supported by 75 Liberals, 48 Bloc Quebecois and 30 New Democrats. Two Independent MPs sided with the 143 Conservatives.

Six NDP MPs broke with their party and voted with the government to scrap the registry. This occurred because NDP leader Jack Layton allowed his caucus to vote their conscience by not “whipping” the vote, or compelling them to vote according to the party line.

Hoeppner says the government is currently drafting a new piece of legislation, and this time it will be a government bill instead of a private member’s bill. The substance of the bill will be similar to her original proposal, the MP for Portage-Lisgar, Man., said.

“We believe it continues to be a waste of money and resources, and we think there are a lot of better things we can do to fight crime than harassing hunters and farmers and aboriginal people who use their firearms for their everyday living,” she said.

NDP public safety critic Jasbir Sandhu would not say which way his party intends to vote when the long-gun bill comes up, saying the party would examine the legislation before taking a position. He would also not say whether a vote would be whipped.

Sandhu said the party understands that rural, northern and aboriginal Canadians have legitimate problems with it, and said the gun registry is in need of fixing.

But he said this position likely will chafe rural MPs such as Northwest Territories MP Dennis Bevington, who voted to scrap the registry last time around.

Bevington told Postmedia News Tuesday the registry “upsets traditional hunting practices” in aboriginal communities and sometimes imposes unfairly harsh criminal penalties on gun users for minor offences and failure to register.