Trudeau government could issue federal order to ban handguns bypassing legislature: Bill Blair

Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Bill Blair said that Canadians might still be subject to a handgun ban before the next federal election.

Citing the brief window of time before the next federal election, Blair suggested that the ban could be implemented through a federal order instead of traditional legislative channels.

“I think there is no measure that I think we can rule out that will  legitimately contribute to greater safety for our citizens,” said Blair.

In recent news, the inclusion of a handgun ban to Bill C-71 was voted against by the senate. The ban which was put forward by Senator Marilou McPhedran was defeated with a vote of six against and two for the ban.

McPhedran also cited the urgency of implementing a ban before the federal election in October.

“Looking at how swiftly the New Zealand government is moving to prohibit  the weapons used in the mass killings of Muslims in their places of  worship, and looking realistically at the Canadian parliamentary agenda,  the Government of Canada has run out of time unless the bill currently  before the Senate is used for a new initiative to deal more effectively  with the proliferation of handguns in Canada,” claimed McPhedran.

Blair, who was charged with studying a hand gun and “assault rifle” ban released a report on April 11th citing the fact that Canadians are polarized on the subject.

“Overall, participants were strongly polarized  on the issue of banning handguns and assault-style firearms. The stakeholder views expressed in two of the engagement channels – the in-person  dialogues and  written submissions – provided a variety of perspectives  both opposed to and in  support of a ban. In contrast, most  questionnaire respondents (representing a  self-selected group of  Canadians) were opposed to a ban,” reads the executive summary.

If implemented, the federal government would issue an “order in council” through the Governor General and the Privy Council bypassing the legislature.

Recently, independent MP Tony Clement told the House of Commons that the Prime Minister had a “secret plan” to implement a handgun ban in June while speaking alongside New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at a conference on women’s issues.

“I am told on good authority that the prime minister has a secret plan to ban legal firearms. Apparently, this secret plan is to be executed by  cabinet directive with no debate in parliament,” said Clement.