A Quebec judge granted a stay of execution Thursday for federal long-gun registry data after the province's Liberal government went to court to prevent destruction of the records.

The Quebec Superior Court granted the delay until further motions are argued in a Montreal court next week.

The court order Thursday applies only to data from Quebec and not other provinces. A government lawyer said that deletion process could take months to complete.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said he supports Quebec's plan to create its own gun registry.

"We'll try and make sure Quebec can continue with that information . . . it's for the security of police officers and the security of the public," he said following a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa Thursday.

The controversial bill (C-19) to kill the registry passed its third reading in the Senate late Wednesday and was to receive royal assent Thursday afternoon and takes effect at midnight.

The Conservatives have long sought to eliminate the registry, and made it a key issue during the last federal election campaign which saw them achieve majority status.

"As soon as the legislation is passed there is a requirement to destroy the data," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said earlier Thursday.

"If there is no legal impediment to destroying the data that process continues," he said during a news conference Thursday alongside MP Candice Hoeppner, who has long fought against the registry, and Quebec Minister of State Maxime Bernier.

The Quebec government argues that it helped collect the data, and has a right to hold onto it if it so chooses.

Toews pointed out that Bill C-19, the Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act, only eliminates the requirement to register long guns.

All other restricted firearms will still need to be registered, and any individual who wishes to own a firearm of any kind, long gun or otherwise, must hold a licence to do so.

"The simple fact is they will no longer be required to register a long gun," Toews said.

"Many, many individuals across this country have never registered those long guns and they will no longer be under any criminal sanction for refusing to register those long guns."

The federal Conservatives have long argued that the long-gun registry, first established by the Liberals, is ineffective, expensive to maintain, and punishes farmers and hunters while having little or no effect on criminals.

Hoeppner, who is the parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety, told CTV Power Play that the government is "disappointed" about the ruling.

"Our position doesn't change, we believe that Canadians have given us a mandate to end the long-gun registry," she said.

"This is the will of the Canadian people."

While Hoeppner noted that Quebec is free to pursue its own version of the registry, doing so with data gleaned from the former federal list isn't an option.

"We don't want to help them create another registry," she said, adding that the data is now "flawed" and "inaccurate."

Hoeppner also stressed that the bill to kill the registry is clear and states that the data must be destroyed.

"This should be law, this should be done right now," she said.