Liberals limit remaining debate on gun control bill

The federal government passed a motion late Tuesday limiting how much time MPs have left to consider changes and debate Liberal gun control legislation Bill C-21 before it is sent to the Senate for a second round of scrutiny.

Through what's known as a programming motion, the Liberals—with votes from NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs— have set in stone the remainder of House of Commons' plans related to this bill. 

The motion passing means that now:

• the House Public Safety and National Security Committee is empowered to expand Bill C-21's scope, allowing them to approve the Liberals' latest proposed amendments related to ghost guns and implementing an assault-style firearm definition;
• the committee will be given priority access to House resources to hold a pair of marathon hearings from 3:30 to midnight on two successive days in order to move through all outstanding amendments to Bill C-21;
• during these hearings the committee will not permit more than 20 minutes of debate on any clause or amendment moved before the chair forces that matter to come to a vote, and come midnight on the second day, any amendments they don't get to are to be sped through; and
• after the committee is done with Bill C-21 amendments, it will be reported back to the House right away where only one further sitting day of debate will be permitted at report stage and third reading, the final two legislative phases before it passes into the Senate.

This move from Government House Leader Mark Holland, on a piece of legislation that has now been before the House for almost a year, came just one week after Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino put forward a series of revised amendments that seek to significantly expand the range of proposed gun control measures in the bill. 

Among the most significant changes was to insert a prospective Criminal Code "technical definition" of what constitutes a prohibited assault-style firearm, meant to "cement in law" a permanent ban on future models.

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The minister's rethink came after withdrawing an initial amendment package that sparked considerable backlash last fall, largely due to trying to inject an "evergreen" definition for assault-style weapons that would have prohibited hundreds of gun models currently on the market, including some commonly used for sport and hunting. Since pulling the plug on the problematic proposals in February, the legislation had largely been languishing.

MPs on the House Public Safety and National Security Committee have over the last week and a half have been working through the Liberals’ latest amendment package, as well as more than 100 other proposed amendments to Bill C-21. So far they’ve been able to make it through 10 of 73 clauses of the legislation.

Through this clause-by-clause process, the Liberals are in the process of taking the bill beyond its initial focus— tightening gun laws to include "red flag" provisions and imposing a handgun "freeze"— to also change Canada's future classification of certain assault-style firearms.

When the Liberals moved the motion on Monday, the Conservatives balked, calling it the "nuclear option," while the New Democrats said this time-limiting move was needed to fend off Official Opposition obstruction after the Conservatives repeatedly shot down attempts to extend the committee's sitting hours in order to move through the stack of amendments faster.

An attempt by Conservative MP and public safety critic Raquel Dancho to essentially wipe out the motion and replace it with an invitation for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mendicino and other ministers and officials to "appear as witnesses from time to time as the committee sees fit," was defeated.