(Ottawa) The Bloc Québécois is proposing an accelerated regulatory process so that the national freeze on the sale, transfer and importation of handguns comes into effect as soon as possible.
Posted at 3:17 p.m.
This idea mentioned Tuesday by the Bloc leader, Yves-François Blanchet, requires unanimous consent between parties.
Normally, 30 sitting days in Parliament must pass for regulatory changes such as those for the nationwide freeze proposed by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to apply, the security minister’s office told The Canadian Press recently. public, Marco Mendicino.
The latter submitted, at the beginning of last week, regulatory changes relating to his Bill C-21, but the time required for their adoption will not end until the end of September due to the summer recess of parliamentary proceedings. .
“We are therefore asking the House to consider reducing the 30-day period because, by unanimous choice, we can […] reduce that to 10 days so that we can put the moratorium in place immediately,” said Mr. Blanchet before going to question period.
He said he wanted to curb the current rush of sports shooters buying new handguns, as reported by The Canadian Press.
“There is an increase in the number of firearms that are going to be in circulation […] rather than a reduction for months by people who already have the permits it requires to be able to buy them, ”lamented Mr. Blanchet.
He said that his party would hold discussions with the other political parties in order to convince them to go ahead. Asked whether the Conservatives were, to his knowledge, open to the idea, he replied that he wanted to “because it remains a security issue”.
The Bloc Québécois would like such an agreement, if concluded, to include provisions for setting up a handgun buy-back program, a proposal already mentioned last week.
Earlier Tuesday, Government House Leader Mark Holland said he was talking with the Bloc and New Democrats to get Bill C-21 passed quickly.
He accused the Conservatives of filibustering to delay the start of parliamentary debate on the piece of legislation, as well as on other bills.
“Now we have to use the time allocation and the other tools to push the legislation forward and it’s frustrating,” he complained.
Mr. Holland estimates that the second reading debate on Bill C-21, which he wanted to see begin last Friday, will begin later this week.