Roundup: Bringing in the assault-rifle ban

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For the second day in a row, prime minister Justin Trudeau held his daily presser in the West Block instead of outside of Rideau Cottage, and once again, he was flanked by Cabinet ministers for an announcement – this time it was to declare that he had signed an Order-in-Council that relegated some 1500 “assault-style” rifles to be illegal, effective immediately, with a two-year amnesty period while they sorted out the legislation around the buy-back programme that was going to accompany it, which would be tabled as soon as we got back to regular parliamentary operations, along with a budget. They took great care to say that legitimate hunters and sport-shooters were not being targeted, and Chrystia Freeland spun a homily about her father the farmer taking his hunting rifle to scare off bears and to shoot prairie chickens that would become dinner – but also made the point that part of what they were doing was targeting the fetishization of particular weapons as part of gun culture.

The reaction was fast and furious – the Conservatives considered it to be pure politics and that they were taking advantage of the tragedy in Nova Scotia to score points (because they never did that). Jason Kenney was predictably apoplectic and declared that he was looking at replacing the federal firearms officer with a provincial chief firearms officer for all the good it would do, considering that these changes are under the Criminal Code, which is federal jurisdiction. Many gun control advocates said that these measures didn’t go far enough, and that they didn’t live up to the promises that the Liberals made during the election. There is also the very legitimate criticism that these kinds of measures are useless unless more attention and resources are poured into security the border against illegal gun smuggling, which is how a great many illegal firearms wind up in this country.

Add to that was a great deal of hue and cry about the way in which this government went about doing this, which is by Order-in-Council, and many a voice over social media including some reporters who should know better that this was all very unseemly in a “minority government.” (Reminder that there is no such thing as a “minority government” – we have a hung parliament but a government is a government regardless of whether they hold a majority of seats in the legislature or not, because government is Cabinet). So, to break it down, it’s not unseemly because this kind of ban happens through regulation – the legislative framework is already in the Criminal Code. And you want this kind of ban list in regulation because you’re not going to amend the Criminal Code every time you need to add or subtract a particular make of weapon from the prohibited list. That’s why regulation exists, and has its own consultative processes and review by the Scrutiny of Regulations committee in Parliament. The government will still need legislation for their buy-back programme and any other assorted measures to mitigate and compensate current owners, and even though it’s a hung parliament, the Bloc and NDP are almost certainly going to be in support of these measures, so that’s less of a concern for them.

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1256259714234679301

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1256266671083454465

Good reads:

  • Dr. Theresa Tam says the curve of infections has flattened, but that she is concerned about the fact it has targeted such vulnerable populations.
  • The search and rescue operations have now translated to recovery as the five missing helicopter crew from the downed Cyclone are now considered dead.
  • With stories of fraud emerging from people who have applied for the CERB, the government says it was trying to prioritize getting dollars out in a hurry.
  • People caught up in the overloaded EI system but can’t apply for CERB are having difficulty reaching anyone at Service Canada to sort out their situation.
  • The prime minister appointed Tiff Macklem as the new Governor of the Bank of Canada. Macklem was a former deputy governor.
  • The CD Howe Institute says that we are officially in a recession.
  • Here’s an interview with Jane Philpott about her work in a care facility for adults with severe disabilities, which is facing a full-on COVID-19 outbreak.
  • The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs say that they are ready to sign the MOU with the government on rights and title – but now elected chiefs are raising concerns.
  • Peter MacKay is walking back his comments about Erin O’Toole and trans rights, in the most disingenuous way possible.
  • Here is an exploration of the leadership proxy war that Derek Sloan kicked off in the Conservative caucus room, but it they didn’t get enough votes to kick Sloan out.
  • Kevin Carmichael gives his evaluation for the choice of Tiff Macklem as Governor of the Bank of Canada.
  • Matt Gurney reads the assault rifle ban for filth, and exposes it as political theatre and half-measures better suited for fundraisers than public safety.
  • Colby Cosh tries to make sense of Alberta’s “re-launch plan,” and the various stages and what it may or may not represent in these uncertain times.
  • My weekend column looks at the hollowness of the Conservative leadership race, and the underpinnings of why each race gets worse than the last one.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Bringing in the assault-rifle ban”

  1. Conservative MP’s are coordinating a campaign against the new gun rules calling the action by the Liberals a cowardly and underhanded. This of course is directed at their base. Unfortunately nearly 50 percent are against military style guns being in the hands of private citizens, Tories are always convinced that all conservatives support no rules or legislation. These rules fall under existing laws that no tory government used to clamp down on such ownership. The only reason for Trudeau to take this to Parliament is to legislate a buyback program.

  2. I am so glad that the Liberals are expanding the focus to include not only the weapons of war themselves, but the underlying aggro-masculinity culture that motivates these massacres. Conservatives fetishize patriarchal order and lose their minds when confronted with the reality of this systemic cultural psychopathology. Nevertheless, he (Trudeau), she (Freeland) and they (the survivors of Polytechnique, the moms of Sandy Hook) persisted. Poilievre brushes off the root causes of root causes and Harper sneered about “committing sociology,” but that’s exactly what needs to be done here to really address this problem. Testosterone toxicity is a threat to the public health.

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