Canadian Opposition Leader Under Pressure Rejects Vote to End Assault Weapons Ban

VANCOUVER, Sept. 5 (Reuters) – Canadian opposition Conservative leader on Sunday withdrew a campaign promise to lift a ban on some assault weapons after Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused him of to have been cozy in the arms lobby.

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole has been pressured by critics ahead of the Sept. 20 election because of his party’s stance on gun control, a sensitive issue in Canada, especially after crimes such as a deadly murder shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020.

Over the years, liberal governments have tightened firearms laws, which are stricter than those in the United States. Canada’s rate of armed violence is significantly lower than that of its southern neighbor. Read more

On their platform, center-right conservatives said they would remove the 2020 ban on 11 types of assault weapons, including those used in various mass shootings. O’Toole said earlier that the restrictions unfairly penalized hunters and farmers.

“I want to make my position on firearms perfectly clear,” O’Toole told Vancouver reporters. “The current ban on several … reclassified firearms in 2020 will remain in place.”

O’Toole, insisting on the issue, did not explain the change and accused Trudeau of devoting himself to American politics and of “dividing the people, confronting the East and the West, rural versus urban. “. Instead of removing the ban, the Conservatives would launch a public review of how firearms are classified.

Conservatives acted to prevent Trudeau from turning the issue into a wedge issue that could hurt them, said a party member, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

Earlier in the day, Trudeau accused O’Toole of pandering for his party’s far-right elements.

“Community safety is not in negotiation with the gun lobby. And you certainly shouldn’t hand them the pen to write your platform,” he told reporters in Markham, Ontario.

Prohibited weapons in 2020 include the Ruger Mini-14 rifle, which a gunman used to kill 14 women in Montreal in 1989.

Gun control will appear in the debates of two televised leaders this week, when Trudeau will try to reactivate a campaign that the privileged concede he is fighting amid the fatigue and unhappiness of voters over the election calendar.

Trudeau called the vote two years earlier to serve as a referendum on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A 1,200-person Nanos Research poll by CTV on Sunday put the Conservatives at 34.9%, the Liberals at 33.4% and the left-wing New Democrats at 18.9%.

A day earlier, Nanos had 35.5% Conservatives and 33% Liberals.

Report by David Ljunggren; Edited by Peter Cooney

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