Ottawa, Ontario - The only thing more shocking than Erin O’Toole’s deal with the gun lobby to lift the ban on assault weapons is that he lied to Canadians about it last night when he said he would maintain a ban on assault weapons. He did it again this morning.
This is a slap in the face to every victim and survivor of gun violence. Erin O’Toole and the Conservatives disrespected every family and Canadian with that lie.
“I've dedicated my life's work to protecting communities from gun violence, it's why I got into politics,” said Bill Blair, candidate for Scarborough Southwest, “We deserve better. Canadians deserve better than Erin O’Toole who says one thing to the National Firearms Association and another to Canadians.”
“Erin O’Toole thinks Canadians aren’t smart enough to see through his deception. That we won’t read his platform. But Canadians know better,” said Melanie Joly candidate for Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
Erin O’Toole promised to legalize the weapons preferred by those with the intent on killing the most people the most efficiently – the ones used at Polytechnique, at the Quebec Mosque and in Moncton. It’s on page 90 of his platform.
“Our government banned 1,500 types of assault-style- firearms. If you repeal that order, which Erin O’Toole has promised to do, you make them legal again,” continued Bill Blair.
O’Toole’s ties to the gun lobby run deep. When he made his first run for Conservative leadership in 2017, O’Toole boasted that he was the only candidate endorsed by both the National Firearms Association and the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights. The manager of his national leadership campaign, Fred Delorey, lobbied extensively for the National Firearms Association.
We will make a minimum of $1 billion available to provinces and territories who want to ban handguns and impose strict restrictions on their use and transportation everywhere in Canada. We will make it mandatory for owners of assault weapons to either sell them back to the government or render them inoperable, implement strong, lifetime background checks, increase criminal penalties for gun smuggling and enhance the capacity of the RCMP and CBSA to stop illegal guns from entering Canada.
Canadians overwhelmingly support strong gun control measures in our society. We agree – our Liberal government has taken the greatest action of any government on gun control, and we have much more to do.
