QC Municipalities object to provincial registry – Council Motion

~Potton Township, Quebec 

The Potton city council took a hard stand for Quebec hunters and gun owners at a recent public meeting held at the town hall of this border municipality. In fact, they passed a motion, unanimously, to adopt a resolution to demand the Quebec government reverse its decision to implement a long gun registry.

Potton Mayor Jacques Marcoux said “we find that the money spent on this project would be better used if we were working to stop the black market or to fight mental illness, which regularly cause mental illness” in a recent article by LaTribune.

The township of Potton Resolution also states that the cost of the registry may swell considerably, comparable to the failed federal long gun registry previously scrapped by the Harper government. City councilor Bruno Côté contacted the CCFR’s Tracey Wilson (VP of Public Relations-CCFR) and said he wrote the motion because it represents what his constituents are asking for, gun owners and non gun owners alike. He sees the registry as an expensive and useless measure.

Text of the Motion: 

<<Potton City Council has taken a stand on this issue and invites you to do the same. In short, we believe, like many police officers who admit that the investigation is a much superior technique, that the registry does not solve anything; the expense is useless and the money could be used so much for other purposes.

5.1.4 Opposition to the Quebec Firearms Registration Act

WHEREAS the former Premier of Quebec, Mr. Philippe Couillard forced in June 2016 the creation of the register SIAF (Registration Service of Firearms of Quebec) by not allowing the free vote of his deputies;

WHEREAS the law on the registration of non-restricted firearms in Quebec came into force on January 29, 2018, stating that firearms must be registered by the end of January 2019;

WHEREAS the implementation of this registry ($ 17 million for the establishment and $ 5 million annually for the operation) does not provide any concrete security measures to combat the importation, manufacture and possession of illegal weapons;

WHEREAS the SIAF tends to demonize firearms and honest owners with the required federal permits, but completely ignores criminals procuring weapons on the black market;

WHEREAS on December 20, 2018, one month before the deadline, 82% of Quebec’s weapons (1.6 million) are still not registered;

WHEREAS the SIAF project is likely to suffer the same fate as the Canadian Firearms Registry (from $ 2 million to $ 2 billion), given weak results so far;

WHEREAS abandoning the registry would release significant amounts that could be used much better (in mental health, for example);

CONSEQUENTLY,
it is moved by Bruno Côté
and resolved

THAT the Municipality of the Township of Potton invite the other municipalities of Quebec to ask the deputies, the Minister of Public Security of Quebec and the Prime Minister to backtrack on the law on the registration of firearms without restriction ;

THAT the City Council express its solidarity with hunters, sports shooters, collectors and citizens who consider this register intrusive and ineffective;

THAT Council requests the Government of Quebec to concretely support initiatives against the importation, manufacture and possession of illegal weapons;

THAT the Council propose to the Government of Quebec to put in place necessary information and education programs to stop the stigmatization of firearms and the demonization of their owners.

THAT a copy of this resolution be sent to the Premier of Quebec, the Minister of Public Security of Quebec, the MRC of Memphremagog and all of his municipalities.

Adopted unanimously.>>

Councilor Bruno Côté hopes that other municipalities will follow suit and invites them to adopt their own resolution in opposition to this wasteful project. Côté feels that the rules that apply to gun owners are strict enough and the focus should be on crime. He notes that the anti gun lobby, PolySeSouvient commissioned a survey that indicated Quebecers were strongly in favour of the registry, but he feels that it did not represent the actual thoughts of Quebecers. He says that if other opponents in other municipalities came forward it would give us a more realistic picture of what Quebecers really want.

President of the FQM (Quebec Federation of Municipalities), Jacques Demers learned of the city of Potton taking a stand against the registry and said the issue would be raised at the next Executive meeting of the FQM.

“Maybe we will position ourselves too (against the registry), if we feel that there is an important movement that is being created among our members” Demers said.

If you are a Quebec resident and oppose the wasteful and ineffective registry, contact your local councilor or municipality and ask them to adopt a similar resolution to be forwarded to the province.