Canada’s Conservative Party, which holds a slim lead in a tight electoral race, is facing mounting criticism for its stance on gun control after the Conservatives pledged to overturn a 2020 ban on some “assault-style” weapons.
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole has been pressed repeatedly this week over his campaign promise to overturn last year’s prohibition on weapons such as the AR-15, which was used by a gunman to kill 26 adults and children in the Sandy Hook massacre in the United States in 2012.
O’Toole declined to answer the questions directly, noting he plans to keep a separate 1977 ban on assault rifles.
“Erin O’Toole is willing to say anything to Canadians to get elected. He lied to Canadians about his plans to scrap the Liberal ban on assault weapons,” the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said in a statement on Saturday.
Every question from reporters to Erin O’Toole today, so far, is pressing him for clarity on whether he’d repeal prohibition on certain firearms used in mass killings in Nova Scotia, Quebec City and Montreal. So far, no clear response.
Gun control is a sensitive issue in the country, especially in the French-speaking province of Quebec, where several deadly mass shootings have taken place over the past decades.
In the aftermath of a deadly attack in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia last year, Trudeau in May announced a ban of more than 1,500 models and variants of “assault-style” firearms, including the AR-15.
“You do not need an AR-15 to take down a deer,” Trudeau said at that time. “So, effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade, assault weapons in this country.”
Liberal governments have over the years tightened gun control laws in Canada, but some conservative voters complain the measures are too restrictive and needlessly penalise farmers and hunters.
On Saturday, O’Toole told reporters in Vancouver that it was “very upsetting to see Mr Trudeau trying to import American-style politics, particularly on an issue of public safety”.
A big problem is weapons being smuggled in from the United States, said O’Toole, who is also promising a review of how weapons are classified as dangerous in Canada.
But the Conservatives’ position has been met with criticism not only from their Liberal rivals, but from gun control advocates, as well.
“Erin O’Toole is lying to Canadians when he says he will maintain ‘the ban’ on assault weapons,” said PolyRemembers, an advocacy group founded in the aftermath of a 1989 mass shooting at an engineering school in Montreal that killed 14 women.
Justin Trudeau on August 15 triggered a federal election two years earlier than scheduled [File: John Morris/Reuters]
In a statement on Friday, the group accused O’Toole of “playing with semantics” and failing to answer reporters’ questions about his party’s stance on the 2020 weapons ban.
“He’s talking about the decades-old ban on fully automatic weapons, knowing full well that reporters’ questions referred to the recent 2020 prohibitions. What he is doing is mirroring the gun lobby’s tactic of playing with semantics in order to avoid defending the indefensible,” it said.
The Liberal leader, who had hoped his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic would lead the party to a renewed majority in parliament, has also faced large crowds of anti-masking and anti-vaccine protesters on the campaign trail.
An Ekos poll on Saturday found the Conservatives had 35 percent support, compared with 28.8 percent for the Liberals and 19.6 percent for the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), headed by Jagmeet Singh.
CBC’s Poll Tracker, which aggregates public polling data in Canada, had the Conservatives with 34.1 percent support as of Saturday morning, while the Liberals held 31.2 percent and the NDP had 20.1 percent.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
