Friday, December 01, 2006
Defence Production Act
The Conservative government portrays itself as tough on crime. Did you know that on October 17, 2000, the Conservatives (then Canadian Alliance) along with Liberals, Bloc Québécois, and NDP voted in favour of amendments to the Defence Production Act that effectively prohibited all municipal police forces from the Maritimes to Vancouver Island from possessing guns or ammunition? Police forces, big and small, were negatively impacted by the amendments, except for the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, and Sûreté du Québec, all of whom were exempted under the Act.
Clearly, this was an astonishing act of carelessness on the part of our MP's. To make matters worse, provincial governments and police forces were not notified of the changes until after April 30, 2001 when the amendments took effect. Police forces were unable to purchase new weapons or ammunition until their police executive management were identified and designated persons (as defined by the Act) underwent a lengthy registration process with Public Works Canada and thorough background investigations.
Notwithstanding complaints from provincial governments and police, it took the federal government three years to correct this blunder by amending the Defence Production Act to exempt municipal police forces.
Naturally, the Conservatives’ lack of thought given to the original amendments to the Defence Production Act begs the question whether they have given due consideration to the ramifications that may flow from their proposal to shut down the long gun registry.
Clearly, this was an astonishing act of carelessness on the part of our MP's. To make matters worse, provincial governments and police forces were not notified of the changes until after April 30, 2001 when the amendments took effect. Police forces were unable to purchase new weapons or ammunition until their police executive management were identified and designated persons (as defined by the Act) underwent a lengthy registration process with Public Works Canada and thorough background investigations.
Notwithstanding complaints from provincial governments and police, it took the federal government three years to correct this blunder by amending the Defence Production Act to exempt municipal police forces.
Naturally, the Conservatives’ lack of thought given to the original amendments to the Defence Production Act begs the question whether they have given due consideration to the ramifications that may flow from their proposal to shut down the long gun registry.
Labels: gun registry
