Quebec premier, Montreal mayor ask for national handgun ban

François Legault, premier of Quebec, and Valérie Plante, mayor of Montreal, are joining forces to pressure the federal government into a nationwide handgun ban.

Plante was re-elected mayor of Montreal on November 7, and appears ready to cooperate with Legault to continue and even expand the gun control programs that the province has kickstarted in recent months.

Following a high-profile string of criminal firearm usage in recent months, politicians in Quebec launched a police unit in August aimed at fighting gun crime, particularly focusing on the Montreal area. A few weeks later, the province announced expanded efforts, putting $90 million towards fighting gun crime in Quebec with the combined resources of multiple police forces.

Now those same political leaders want to push outside their province's borders, saying the Liberal government's plan to let individual municipalities restrict handguns will not be effective, because cities don't want that responsibility. Instead, Legault says the federal government needs to ban handguns across Canada, and then focus on keeping them out of the country to start with. He told the Montreal Gazette that "We are ready to discuss it with the federal government, first ban handguns and once they are banned, a better control is needed at the borders to ensure they don’t come into Quebec.” Legault and Plante apparently discussed the idea during their first meeting after her successful bid to retain her mayoral seat.

Different opinions

Legault is correct in saying Canadian cities have been divided in their response to the federal government's proposed Bill C-21. When C-21 debuted in winter of 2021, it was worded to give municipalities considerable powers to ban handguns within their borders. This bill died on the Order Paper when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the 2021 federal election, but before that, some cities liked the idea, and others had problems with it (see our coverage here).

What's next?

Legault and Plante will no doubt continue pushing gun control inside the borders of Quebec and Montreal respectively, but their influence outside the province is limited for now. Perhaps their lobbying is a play ahead of today's throne speech, aimed at influencing the Trudeau government's future at this pivotal period. However, the federal government has demonstrated no hesitancy to introduce gun control whether or not it was discussed in the throne speech; with C-21 dead last summer, if the Liberals are serious about this plan, expect to see this idea raised again.