The Senate voted to kill the controversial long gun registry yesterday, ensuring that by the end of the week, Bill C-19 will be law once signed by governor general David Johnston.
The evening Senate vote came after the Conservative majority imposed closure on the final debate, limiting speeches. Opposition Liberals opposed the legislation but did not drag the debate out for the full six hours allotted.
In the final vote, almost 35 percent of opposition Liberals did not show up to vote.
The final tally was 50 for and 27 against.
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It ends more than a decade of Conservative promises to end the 1995 Liberal-imposed long gun registry created in large part in reaction to gun violence in Toronto and Montreal.
Critics said it penalized rural gun owners, farmers, hunters and sports shooters without reducing gun crime.
Defenders of the registry insist it is a useful tool for police and has reduced gun violence.
In the hours before the vote, the Quebec government announced it will go to court to try to force Ottawa to turn over to Quebec City provincial data from the registry.
The province is vowing to start its own registry and it wants access to information on Quebec gun ownership collected since 1995 as a base. Federal opposition MPs said they support the provincial lawsuit.
The federal Conservatives insist the registry data will be destroyed. It will fight the court challenge.
Thursday afternoon the Quebec Superior Court granted the injunction sought by the Quebec government. As a result public safety minister Vic Toews said the government would respect the injunction and no documents would be destroyed while the matter was before the court.
In the House of Commons April 4, hours before the final Senate vote, southern Manitoba MP Candice Hoeppner, whose private member’s bill came close to killing the registry in the last Parliament, lauded the imminent prospect of the end of the registry.
“We are all counting the hours until the moment comes when law-abiding Canadians will no longer have to register their long guns,” the parliamentary secretary to the public safety minister said during question period.
“We committed to Canadians that we would end the long gun registry, they gave us a mandate to do so. We are grateful that we are going to be able to follow through on our commitment and end the long gun registry once and for all.”
