Amid its usual swirl of controversy, acrimony and accusation, the federal government’s gun registration system was given new legislative authority last week when the House of Commons approved another version of the Firearms Act.
Government defenders of the bill say it will create a more efficient registry system, make it easier for Canadians to register their guns and save money.
Opposition critics dismiss it as simply a way to allow the government to continue to waste money on a bad program.
“The insurmountable problems with the gun registry will not be solved by these Band-Aid amendments,” Canadian Alliance British Columbia MP Gurmant Grewal complained during debate.
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“The only cost effective solution is to scrap the gun registry altogether and replace it with something that will work.”
Solicitor general Wayne Easter insisted that the new legislation will streamline a system that Canadians overwhelmingly want, even as they worry about costs.
“We want to ensure that we pass bill C-10A to create some efficiencies in the system and to save money for Canadians,” he told the Commons May 6.
The government used its majority to cut off debate on the bill, which had been sent back to the Commons from the Senate in a controversial parliamentary move. The vote was 135-93, with only Ontario Liberal Roger Gallaway defying his party.
Alliance, New Democrat, Bloc Québécois and Progressive Conservative MPs united against the bill.
It formally creates the position of Canadian firearms commissioner to run the Canadian Firearms Centre and moves jurisdiction to operate the system from the RCMP to the centre.
The debate featured the usual claims and counter-claims about whether the gun registry is effective as public safety policy, whether it could be operated more cheaply as it heads toward a $1 billion price tag, whether police officers support or oppose the program and whether Canadians support or oppose it.
Nova Scotia Tory Gerald Keddy noted that 28 million cows are registered in the national tagging program and he estimated it costs $2 million annually. Easter said it is in part because there is strong cattle industry co-operation in the ID program but much resistance to the gun registry, which added costs.
Saskatchewan New Democrat Lorne Nystrom said opposition to the registry comes not just from Conservative and Alliance provinces, but from NDP jurisdictions like Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well.
“It comes from every political corner of the ideological framework across the country,” he said.
Easter also found himself a target during the final day of debate.
Opposition MPs accused him of reversing his position from opposition to support since he was appointed to cabinet and given jurisdiction over the registry.
Easter said he understands the opposition and fears of some opponents: “The intent of the gun control issue is not to make criminals out of legitimate gun owners. They have the right to those guns.”
And he conceded he has had doubts about some aspects of the program. Easter said he opposed some parts of the program in internal party debates but always voted for it as government policy.
“The fact of the matter is, the world has moved on. These are different times.”
