Guns, beer don’t mix, Blair says

Security minister slams Alberta MP for fundraiser

OTTAWA— Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair is slamming a Conservative MP for hosting a “Guns and Guinness” fundraiser last weekend.

The former Toronto police chief told the Star it is “deeply disappointing” that an opposition member would hold a firearms- and alcohol-themed event when Canada is “seeing record levels of tragic homicides involving firearms.”

Blair’s parliamentary secretary, Montreal-area Liberal MP Peter Schiefke, also condemned the Nov. 17 event for including a teenage boy as an advertised guest. The boy authored a petition to Parliament this year, calling on the Trudeau government to scrap its firearms legislation.

The event was hosted by Conservative MP Rachael Harder’s riding association in Lethbridge, Alta. Her website shows a digital flyer that has an image of a beer stein with suds bubbling on top, and invited people to buy tickets to go clay shooting with Harder, fellow Conservative MP Robert Sopuck and the boy who wrote the petition.

Prices to attend: $50 for “just Guinness,” $75 for “Guns and Guinness,” or $60 to shoot and drink if you brought your own firearm and ammunition.

In Vancouver Tuesday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer accused the Liberals of restricting gun ownership for Canadians instead of “taking aim at the real criminals.”