Chamber Forum - What Is Your Party's Stance On Gun Control?

On Tuesday evening the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce held an all candidates forum for all six candidates vying to be the next MP in the Moose Jaw - Lake Centre - Lanigan riding.

To help voters make up their minds we are running the questions and the answers from the candidates to the questions put forward to them in that forum in no particular order.

The third question we feature deals with gun control.

QUESTION - What is your Party’s policy on gun control?

Chey Craik, People’s Party of Canada candidate, said the Party would repeal the gun control act and aim at supporting police and targeting criminals who use guns.

“This is fantastic I am a gun guy so our Party policy is cancel Bill - C71,” Craik said.

“We need to focus on criminals in Canada. We need to strengthen our current laws, we need to absolutely get off of this gun control debate it is not about the guns. It is not about the vetted, tested and trained individuals in Canada it is about there are over 2 million gun owners in Canada, they are not the problem the government is the problem,” he said.

“The criminals are the problem. We need to fix this.”

Katelyn Zimmer, Liberal Party of Canada, said she was trained in the use of firearms and has accepting hunting after coming from a long line of people trying to save animals.

From her veterinarian training and knowledge about hunting she supports the Liberal Party policy of banning assault style rifles and large capacity magazines which allow using firearms in an automatic firing fashion.

“So as a veterinarian I am trained to use firearms. We received our possession/acquisition license as part of our large animal training. I also married into a family that hunts which is really hard for me to come to terms with considering I come from a long line of people who save animals but thanks to Steve Zimmer, a meat eater, who provided the best marital counseling I could ever receive I have come to terms with everything,” Zimmer said.

“What I do know through my work as a veterinarian and through learning about hunting is we do not need assault style weapons to lead life in Saskatchewan. We do not need high capacity magazines that can fire off rounds of ammunition in an automatic fashion,” she said.

“And that is what the Liberal government is proposing to ban assault style weapons and high capacity magazines.”

Talon Regent, New Democratic Party candidate, said the NDP would take a scientific measured approach to properly finance stopping illegal firearms from the United States.

The NDP would then go farther and institute a gun control program that allow cities and municipalities to tailor gun control measures that reflect the local gun control needs.

“I am not sure if this is the first time Moose Jaw - Lake Centre - Lanigan has had a slate of candidates that are all experienced with firearms,” Regent said.

“I was a provincial silver medalist pistol shooter and I have my RPAL and I have my license to have long guns and hand guns and the NDP is the Party looking to take the most measured, targeted approach. We are the ones looking at the science and speaking to the experts and listening to what they have to say. And what the experts are telling us is illegal firearms are largely coming across the American border,” he said.

“And the first thing we need to do is to ensure the Canadian Border Security Agency has the appropriate level of funding and the appropriate resources to stop those guns from coming across the border.”

“From there we want to make sure we take a regional approach because Moose Jaw - Lake Centre - Lanigan we don’t have a particularly violent region. We don’t have a ton of gun crimes going on as compared to larger centres like Toronto. We have seen shootings in places like Montreal. We have seen shootings in Vancouver. And the NDP is looking to empower municipalities, cities to take the approach that is good for them.”

“So the New Democrats would say Moose Jaw you guys are doing great you got tons of gun owners. All of your candidates seem to be gun owners and you aren’t seeing gun crime so you do you. Whereas Toronto and Montreal if you are having issues then you can take a more restrictive approach”

“So by taking this measured approach by cutting off the guns at the border and ensuring that we have regional control that is the type of intelligent, targeted answer that is necessary to address gun control without being overly restrictive,” Regent concluded.

Fraser Tolmie, Conservative Party candidate, said the Liberals were once again using gun control as a wedge issue to divide Canadians and the Conservatives had the support of legitimate gun owners to de-politicize the issue.

“The Liberals are demonizing law abiding firearm owners while at the same time introducing new measures to reduce sentencing for criminals charged with illegal gun offences. This is confusing and hypocritical,” Tolmie said.

“I want to read from the Coalition for Firearms Rights a message that was sent out ‘in our view Mr O’Toole is reacting to Justin Trudeau’s attempt to make an unnecessary reaction during a pandemic about gun control. Gun control has always been a political wedge issue to the Liberals. Not a matter of public safety. We agree with Mr O’Toole that the classification of firearms should not be part of a political process. Mr Trudeau has used this issue to divide Canadians and a transparent public consultation would bring a better understanding of this topic to all Canadians. We would welcome an opportunity to de-politicize this topic and focus on public safety.’”

“The Conservative Party wants to support you and the safety of our community,” Tolmie concluded.

Craig Townsend, Maverick Party candidate, said the Maverick’sgun control policy is one of creating a gun czar located in Western Canada and future legislation would be targeted so as not to harm legitimate gun owners but instead target gun crimes.

“The Maverick Party is strongly opposed to the belated firearms confiscation program. We support the appointment of a Chief Firearms Officer headquartered in Western Canada. We advocate for a long overdue process to all current and future firearms legislation to ensure that legislation is correctly targeted at the reduction of gun crime and not an unnecessarily ineffective and overly bureaucratic restrictions on law abiding firearms owners,” Townsend said.

“We also recommend that all Western provinces seek greater autonomy and oversight with respect to guns,” he said.