NDP Ask For C-21 Amendments To Be Scrapped

Canadian MPs have returned to the House of Commons, and once again, the controversial anti-firearm Bill C-21 is in headlines. Now, the NDP is publicly asking the Liberals to strike out the recent amendments to the bill that would ban hunting firearms and otherwise change the bill drastically.

In an exchange in the house on January 30, NDP House Leader Peter Julian challenged Speaker Anthony Rota on the amendment, saying that this government's precedent is to remove amendments to legislation if they substantially change the bill after its introduction.

Julian did not say the NDP had a problem with Bill C-21's original restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, particularly handgun owners. He only said the NDP had a problem with the most recent, sweeping amendments (see more on those here) which were introduced so late into the legislative process:

"Bill C-21 was originally intended to limit the number of handguns on our streets. Before the amendment was introduced, there was every reason to believe that Bill C-21 was on track to passing through this House before Christmas, but instead, the amendment was introduced at the eleventh hour with no ability to question witnesses about its impacts. It is a more than 200-page amendment to what was originally a 44-page bill. In our view, that constitutes an abuse of process. We are not asking the Speaker to judge the merits of the amendment. Instead, we are bringing forward a very important procedural point," Julian said in the House of Commons.

"The amendment is out of scope because the original Bill C-21 was meant to implement a handgun freeze. This amendment would drastically expand the definition of “prohibited firearm” in the Criminal Code to cover all sorts of long guns, including those commonly used for hunting and farming and by indigenous communities. This House never had a chance to debate this measure at second reading."

You can read the whole exchange here, including comments from Conservative MP Andrew Scheer and Green Party leader Elizabeth May. Most interestingly, May said she also has pending amendments for Bill C-21.

What's next?

While the Liberal members of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) wanted to close the debate on C-21 and move on, the rest of the committee's members have been using stalling tactics to prolong debate.

SECU will meet again on this Friday, February 3, at 8:45 AM EST. You can watch the proceedings on ParlVu (click here). Expect the Conservative and NDP members present to ask for consultation meetings to drag the process out, since at this point the Liberals have not budged on the amendments. If successful, the committee will spend months travelling the country talking to so-called stakeholders (rural Canadians and natives, most likely, along with the usual anti-gun lobbyists from urban centres). The NDP would very much like this, as it would appease their voters outside cities, particularly in the north.

At this point, the Bloc Quebecois vote is the big question mark; if MP Kristina Michaud votes with the six Liberals, they have a majority in the 12-seat committee and can push the revised C-21 forward. However, even the Bloc has noticed the letter-writing campaigns and other pressure applied by Canadian voters for the past few weeks as C-21 debate rages on. If they feel the political cost of blatantly throwing rural gun owners under the bus is too much, they may also be happy to run out the clock on this one.