REGINA — The federal minister of Public Safety was in Regina pushing the Liberals’ handgun crackdown.
Marco Mendicino was at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention Monday, where he met with the Big City Mayors Caucus as well as the Rural Caucus on issues related to public safety
At the top of the items discussed was Bill C-21, the Liberals’ gun reform. In speaking to reporters Thursday, Mendicino called it the “strongest gun reform policy package that the country’s seen in a generation.”
He noted “mayors of many different communities” across the country had offered their support for Bill C-21.
“One of the messages that they communicated to me was that the federal government had listened. And by that I mean we had evolved our approach to fighting against gun violence from working directly with the municipalities to taking a national approach.”
Mendicino pointed to the national handgun freeze, which makes it illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns, “which definitively caps the market.”
He also noted the bill takes organized crime head on by raising penalties on those who would smuggle firearms into the country, and give police wire tapping powers that can stop gun crime from occurring. It also addresses the concerns of a rise in domestic violence in connection with guns.
On Bill C-21's handgun freeze, Mendicino was asked about the comment from Premier Scott Moe earlier this week that it amounted to “virtue signalling” by the Liberals.
Mendicino responded the bill “aims to tackle very alarming and concerning trends around gun violence.” He pointed to a Statistics Canada report from the previous week indicating gun violence, handgun violence and domestic gun violence is up.
He said the national handgun freeze policy was arrived at after having conversations with law enforcement, and noted the Canadian Association of the Chiefs of Police had issued a statement saying it was a step in the right direction.
RCMP collective bargaining costs raised
Another issue raised at FCM was the recently negotiated RCMP collective bargaining agreement, with concerns raised from many smaller municipalities about having to shoulder the burden of the increase in costs in their RCMP contracts.
Mendocino said he had spoken to the Rural Caucus about the relationship between smaller municipalities and the RCMP.
“Cudos to them for bringing forward their concern. One of the reasons I came to FCM was to address this specific issue and area of concern about contract services in rural Canada, particularly in rural municipalities that rely on the RCMP to maintain public safety every day.”
He also acknowledged the recent collective agreement included a provision of retroactive pay that put some financial pressure on communities.
Mendicino cited the need for providing “very clear lines of communication” between those communities and the federal government. The federal minister also cited the importance of having the provinces at the table, as he said they were the primary parties privy to those contracts with the RCMP.
“From my conversations this morning, there was a real willingness to explore ways in which we can create a fiscally sustainable framework, for municipalities who have limited tax bases and revenue streams and other ways of generating revenue, to offset the increasing costs around public safety including for local law enforcement.”
