The Handgun Ban - Did The Government Jump The Gun?

On Friday, October 21st, in a series of three staggered press conferences attended by the Prime Minister and a myriad of his Cabinet in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, the Liberal government announced the coming-into-force of a regulation banning the transfer of handguns. Today, some are claiming that announcement may have been a little premature.

According to parliamentary procedure, new Regulations are introduced by being published in Part I of the Canada Gazette; the formal and official newspaper of the federal government. Then, after a public consultation period of 30 days on the Parliamentary calendar, any changes required are made and the Regulation is summarily published in Part II of the Gazette and brought into force.

The regulation seeking to ban handgun transfers accompanied the introduction of Bill C-21 on May 30, 2022. Looking to enact the so-called "handgun freeze" component sought by Bill C-21 faster than the legislative process would allow, the regulation's introduction would allow the Liberals to circumvent parliament and effectively freeze handguns 30 days later - around October 5th, due to the parliamentary summer break. The next issue of the Canada Gazette, Part II to follow was Volume 156, No. 21, which was published on October 12th.

It contained no reference to any firearms regulation changes or notice.

And today, the lack of formal publication of the regulations has led to questions about the validity of its coming into force last Friday, from Blacklock Reporter's Holly Ann Doan.

The Director of Communications for Minister Marco Mendicino responded quickly, claiming that the Governor General signed the regulations on October 20th, and that they would take effect the next day.

Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that the regulations, although having been leaked, have never been published. Minister Marco Mendicino formally asked that the regulation be accepted as introduced without publication, citing the cause of public safety as the justification. Public Safety Canada has them posted on their own website, but with the thoroughly confusing preamble: "The regulations are official and published here temporarily for convenience of reference and does not have official character. The official regulations will be published in Canada Gazette, Part II on November 9, 2022. The official regulations prevail." In other words, while the Ministry insists that there are official regulations, the ones posted on their website are not official; but rather a casual notice for "convenience of reference."

This puts Canadians into the uncomfortable position of accepting the coming-into-force of regulations that were never publicly introduced, sidestepped public consultation in doing so, and pass into law without ever being seen outside of the Ministry that authored them. Even if legal, it certainly breaks procedural process, even as it's laid out on the Justice Ministry's own site.

We'll wait for further details, and update this story as needed.

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