Trudeau: ‘Lots of conversations’ on guns, but no new registry
CHARLOTTETOWN — The federal government has no plans to resurrect the controversial longgun registry, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted Monday as Canadians tried to come to terms with a deadly shooting on Friday that killed four people, including two police officers.
Trudeau, who spent the day visiting Prince Edward Island as part of his Atlantic Canada tour, found himself fielding the same questions that often follow such tragedies — including whether Ottawa is prepared to consider additional restrictions on firearms.
The government has already moved forward with “commonsense gun legislation” that will deepen background checks and impose “reasonable limits” on the transport of weapons, Trudeau said. The legislation, known as Bill C-71, will also require retailers to keep inventory and sales records for longer periods of time.
What it won’t do, he said, is bring back the widely hated gun registry, long a sore spot with farmers and gun enthusiasts after it was introduced in 1993 by Jean Chrétien’s government — and even after it was dissolved in 2012 by the Harper Conservatives.
“We will not be bringing back a long-gun registry — it’s not part of our plan and has never been,” Trudeau said after a town hall meeting with seniors in the community of North Milton, P.E.I.
“There are lots of conversations going on about what next steps might be taken. We’re listening to people and talking to experts about what we can do to keep our communities safe.”
Over the weekend, Trudeau was in Fredericton where he offered condolences to the families of the victims of the shooting, which claimed the lives of police officers Robb Costello and Sara Burns, as well as civilians Bobbie Lee Wright and Donnie Robichaud.
Trudeau was joined by newly appointed Seniors Minister Filomena Tassi, and also had his young son, Hadrien, in tow.
He moved on to Charlottetown later in the day and delivered remarks at a strawberry social before goint to an amusement park with his son.
At the strawberry social, Trudeau urged the crowd of several hundred people to celebrate Canadian diversity.
“If there’s something I know whenever I look out over a crowd anywhere in Canada, it’s that the different ages, the different faces, the different backgrounds — those are incredible sources of strength and resilience for our community,” he told the crowd in Connaught Square.
“These are things that make us strong.”
But a melancholy has been hanging over the Maritimes since Friday.
Costello, 45, was a 20-year police veteran, while Burns, 43, had been an officer for two years. Robichaud, 42, had begun dating Wright, 32, this month.
Burns was married with three children, while Costello was a father of four, and Robichaud had two teenage sons and an older daughter.
Matthew Vincent Raymond has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 27. He was shot by police on Friday and was being treated in hospital. Police have not disclosed the severity of his injuries.