Local member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber said opposition MPs on the federal justice committee are not setting up a fair hearing on the bill to scrap the gun registry.
A private member’s bill to kill the controversial registry reached the federal justice committee, sparking a debate over possible witness lists. At the same time the Liberal party is proposing an entirely different approach that would see the registry remain in place.
The Liberal proposal would eliminate the criminal penalties for not registering a firearm, as well as eliminating any registration fees and simplify the process.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff introduced the proposal this week, while at the same time indicating all of his MPs would be voting against the private member’s bill.
The private member’s bill passed first reading with the help of several Liberal MPs who voted in favour of the bill.
On Thursday the committee reviewed proposed witnesses for hearings on the bill to repeal the registry, but failed to come to any agreement on who should appear in front of the committee.
Rathgeber said a proposed list from Liberal MP Mark Holland was slanted towards opponents of repealing the registry.
“If Mr. Holland had got his way there would have been almost no witnesses who would speak in favour of the bill.”
Rathgeber singled out Calgary police Chief Rick Hansen and Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation president Kevin Gaudet as key witnesses who were left off the proposed list.
Holland said his suggestion to leave those witnesses off is easily explainable because Auditor General Shelia Fraser can speak to the registry’s costs and they are inviting national associations representing police and police chiefs to speak, so there is no need for individual chiefs like Hansen.
Holland said the Liberal proposal would make a lot of sense because it would keep a tool for police as well as make it less onerous for gun owners.
“Every police association in this country tells us we need this to do our job, the RCMP tells us they need this to do their job.”
Holland said simply eliminating the registry would take that tool away, which is often useful in domestic assault situations where police don’t know what they might be dealing with before walking in.
He said at the same time it wouldn’t be an unreasonable hassle to law-abiding gun owners, noting it would be less restrictive than registering a pet.
Rathgeber said removing the criminal provisions of the gun registry would likely make a national registry unconstitutional because registries are normally provincial responsibilities and the only reason the gun registry is allowed is because it deals with criminal law.
He said while he doesn’t think the Liberal changes would pass court scrutiny he’s open to the debate. He said a good debate would also include a full hearing of the issue with a complete witness list.
“This is an issue of great concern and I think it really deserves a full and fulsome debate.”
