Canada’s constitutional democracy was carefully fashioned by balancing the jurisdiction of the Provinces and the Federal government, and it works best when a critical eye is cast upon the ruling class.
There is a disturbing tendency to try and accrue additional powers and, in recent years, to concentrate those powers in the very small circle known as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
This concentration of power should concern all Canadians and, in particular, a watchful eye must be kept upon those sweeping powers a government may grant itself from time to time – typically under the guise of public safety.
One such abuse of power recently came to light – a massive firearms ban enacted by Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Bill Blair through Orders in Council (OIC).
This OIC power was created and granted to the Minister under the Canadian Firearms Act (CFA) of 1995, and allows the Minister to proscribe (ban) any device without the benefit of Parliamentary oversight or approvals.
The scope of this provision includes firearms, magazines, knives, golf clubs, hammers, hockey sticks, cricket bats, books, rental vans, Barbie dolls or anything else without restriction, all at the whim of the Minister.
The Trudeau government attempts to stake out moral high ground by banning legally-owned firearms to “keep Canadians safe.” They claim they are “getting assault-style firearms off our streets”, but Canadians can see through this fiction. These firearms were never “on our streets” to begin with.
The following points must be pointed out and emphasized.
- The owners of these firearms are trained, tested, vetted and approved by the RCMP to hold a firearm license.
- They have the explicit written permission of their spouse or parents to own firearms.
- Every license holder is subjected to daily scrutiny via the Canadian Police Information Computer for any possible criminal charges and court orders.
- Additionally, failure to abide by storage, transport and usage restrictions, or failure to register a restricted firearm will lead to criminal charges with strict jail time attached.
All of this means, as noted above, these firearms were never “on our streets” to begin with, nor did they present any danger to the public.
Statistics Canada data indicates licensed firearm owners are three times less likely to commit any crime than the average Canadian citizen, and the evidence bears this out. No Canadian has ever been killed by an AR-15 in the hands of a licensed firearm owner. In fact, no Canadian has ever been murdered with an AR-15 in our country’s entire history.
The Trudeau Liberals subscribe to the identity politics that are so popular with progressive (socialist) movements. By pitting one segment of the population against another, one right at a time is eliminated for all future generations until Canada’s rights and freedoms are completely decimated.
Like the slowly-boiled frog, by the time the average Canadian notices their Charter rights are extinguished, it will be too late.
I can’t say what the end game of the Trudeau Liberals might be, but when they are done reshaping society into the type of country Justin Trudeau truly admires, Canadians will not recognize it.
Wake up, Canada.
Write to your Member of Parliament.
Demand he or she work to repeal anti-democratic measures like the Order in Council used on May 1st. Demand they fight back against the concentration of power in the PMO.
Jerry S says
I like your article.
The erosion of parliamentary checks and balances is a Canadian problem.
I have a small complaint about your use of the word “decimate”, which means ten percent. I would have used “eradicate”.
Robert Campbell says
Following this issue for 50 years and nothing changes. I am tired of being made a scapegoat for Liberal reluctance to face the real problems instead blaming law abiding gun owners for their reluctance to face up to border smuggling problems. Also despicable they would turn law abiding citizens into a wedge issue to gain political votes amount the city folks who neither know nor care about legal gun ownership.