If the Senate schedule holds, the contentious federal long gun registry could be officially abolished by early April.
Bill C-19, approved by the House of Commons Feb. 15, received Senate second reading — approval in principle — on March 8 and was sent to committee for public hearings and detailed study.
The Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee has announced four public hearings that begin March 14 and end March 29.
The bill then will return to the Senate for final debate and vote.
With Parliament adjourned for two weeks around Easter, the Conservative majority will be under pressure to get the bill passed before the Easter break begins April 6.
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Public safety minister Vic Toews is the first witness when hearings open March 14.
The bill will end the long gun registry and order the destruction of the records compiled through almost two decades.
However, once the bill is signed into law by governor general David Johnston, the Quebec government has threatened to take Ottawa to court to force the federal government to turn over to the provincial government data compiled from Quebec gun owners so it can create its own registry.
Toews has argued that the data must be destroyed.
“The registry is the information collected,” he has argued.
He says much of the databank is outdated and if Quebec wants to create a registry, it can start afresh to collect data.
