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The Liberals previously introduced, but did not pass, a sweeping gun bill that included banning certain weapons and allowing municipalities to ban handguns

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OTTAWA The Liberals throne speech promised to work with provinces and territories to allow them to ban handguns, going further than the government had proposed previously in allowing cities to ban the weapons.

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Gun violence is on the rise in many of our biggest cities. While investing in prevention and supporting the work of law enforcement, we must also continue to strengthen gun control, reads the speech delivered in the Senate on Tuesday.

The government will now put forward measures like a mandatory buyback of banned assault-style weapons, and move forward with any province or territory that wants to ban handguns.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino said the government wants to do whatever is required to deal with gun violence.

Weve seen too many innocent lives lost. And certainly that is true in my hometown in Toronto and in many other parts of the country, he said. If municipalities and provinces are ready to engage the federal government on looking at additional ways, on how we can get illegal guns, including handguns out of our communities, then my door and this governments door will remain open.

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In the last Parliament, the Liberals introduced, but did not pass, a sweeping gun bill that included measures limiting the capacity of rifle magazines, banning certain weapons and allowing municipalities to ban handguns within their jurisdiction. The bill died with the election in August and the Liberals will have to reintroduce the legislation in this Parliament.

Under the bill, a city like Toronto could pass a bylaw banning handguns and the federal government would respect it by refusing to license handgun owners who live within the city and intend to store their weapons there.

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A provincial ban could operate differently because provinces have more constitutional authorities and might not need federal legislation to ban handguns. But the Liberals could also pass federal legislation alongside provincial rules that would prevent people in those provinces from getting a licence for a handgun.

To legally own a handgun in Canada requires owners to take a two-day safety course, a waiting period and background check. Owners are also restricted to using the weapon at shooting ranges.

After a recent shooting, where a 16-year-old boy was killed, Quebec Premier Franois Legault and Montreal Mayor Valrie Plante asked the federal government for a national handgun ban.

Saskatchewans government in contrast passed legislation specifically preventing municipalities from banning handguns.

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The Liberals pledged $1 billion in their platform to help provinces with the cost if they wanted to restrict handguns.

Mendocino said his government is prepared to work with provinces or municipalities who want to restrict the weapons.

What you saw yesterday in the throne speech was a concrete commitment to continue to put into place programs around buybacks, but also to work very closely with provinces and other levels of government to ensure that we take additional strong action to get illegal guns out of our communities, particularly handguns, he said. If the government of Quebec wants to work with the federal government to take additional strong action against getting guns out of our communities, well be there.

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He didnt lay out a specific timeline for what might come next, but said the government would move, as quickly as possible.

Conservative Public Safety critic Raquel Dancho said the Liberals are focusing on the wrong target.

The simple fact is that every dollar spent taking a firearm away from a law-abiding firearm owner is a dollar not going to fight the core issue of firearm crime in Canada illegally smuggled guns, she said in a statement.

She said the government has now had six years to address the issue and is yet to come up with a real plan.

Violent crime has only gone up under Trudeau and what we are seeing is more of the same from the Liberals ineffective and costly programs that do nothing to keep our communities safe.

Twitter: RyanTumilty Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com

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Liberals say they will allow provinces to ban handguns, citing rise in gun violence - National Post

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The western economy is not what the current prime minister or his activist environment minister misrepresent it as, writes Warren Steinley.

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Justin Trudeaus handpicked environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, has spent his whole life campaigning against Canadian energy. His ideological opposition to energy workers in the Prairies ignores the fact that it is these Canadians that develop the best carbon reduction practices and technology that benefits Canada, and the world.

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Those of us who actually live, work and raise our families on the Prairies know better. Despite the technological innovation, sustainable development, and carbon neutral projects that come out of our resource-rich Western provinces, the Trudeau government and Minister Guilbeault refuse to acknowledge the potential of our Canadian prairies. The economic challenges we face, made worse by the Liberal governments policies and messaging, is an inaccurate perception that energy from the Prairies cannot be sustainable and ethical.

The facts speak contrary to Justin Trudeaus beliefs, which are made clear by their anti-energy and anti-resource messaging. Our prairie industries are setting the tone as highly motivated innovators in the world of sustainable development.

Whitecap Resources carbon sequestration units in Joffre and Weyburn serve as world class examples of using captured and sequestered carbon to produce oil from deep earth reserves. The Mcilvenna Bay copper mine in northeast Saskatchewan will be the worlds first carbon neutral copper development project. Prairie Lithium has developed technology to extract solid lithium from the brine found in mature oil wells across southeastern Saskatchewan.

These are just a few examples of sustainable market solutions creating a competitive advantage for prairie industries and for Canada to compete in greening global markets. Our resource and agricultural economies continue to innovate and evolve for the better, and instead of championing these developments at every turn, our government refuses to recognize them or include them as credible examples in the conversation about Canadas future.

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As industries on the Prairies and all of Canada adjust to new environmental expectations, fair attention must be paid when new or innovative steps are taken to meet these expectations. Canadas government should be supporting and promoting these innovations and technological developments at home and abroad. Instead, the Liberal government continues to demonize Canadas resource and agriculture sectors and excludes them from important discussions around meeting climate goals.

The western economy is not what the current prime minister or his activist environment minister misrepresent it as. The Prairies have progressive-minded businesses that are aware of their environmental footprint and are actively seeking ways to minimize it. What it would take to encourage other businesses and sectors to seize advantage of and invest in these technologies when developing our untapped potential, would be an admission from the Trudeau government that developments made in these sectors are part of the solution, not the problem, to the countrys environmental concerns.

Justin Trudeau could choose to be a champion for cutting-edge, world-class resource development and technology that sustains hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs. But something tells me the newly minted environment minister and his boss are content in their own misconceptions and that is bad for Canada.

Warren Steinley is the MP for ReginaLewvan and Conservative shadow minister for prairie economic development and interprovincial trade.

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Opinion: Liberals need to recognize potential of prairie industry in carbon fight - Regina Leader-Post

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Liberal Party members are running in the upcoming council elections as independents and under the banner of community tickets, with no mention on their websites or promotional material that they hold Liberal Party membership.

The NSW Liberal Party does not endorse candidates in some council areas, including North Sydney, Kiama and Shoalhaven.

Local Liberals who wish to run for office in those councils are not allowed, under Liberal Party rules and the NSW Electoral Act, to use Liberal Party branding, even if they openly identify as Liberals.

Elle Prevost, a first-time candidate who is running as an independent for North Sydney council, said she was a proud Liberal party member.

North Sydney candidate Elle Prevost.Credit:ellefornorthsydney.com

I am a Liberal, but we are not endorsed in the North Sydney area, she said. Maybe its me being naive, but because I am not endorsed by the Liberal Party, my understanding is Im an independent.

Ms Prevosts ticket is called Team Elle. Its website announces her as an Independent for North Sydney council and her Liberal Party membership is not mentioned. The membership is disclosed in Ms Prevosts candidate nomination form, filed under a subheading in a PDF document on the NSW Electoral Commission website.

This is a really Liberal area, so I should be screaming it from the rooftops because it would win me more votes, she said.

Retired naval officer Mark Croxford is a member of the executive of the NSW Liberal Party, and a Liberal Party member. But his connection to the Liberal Party is not mentioned on the promotional materials for his run at the Kiama council in the upcoming elections on December 4.

Mark Croxford is standing for election in the Kiama LGA elections.Credit:Janie Barrett

Mr Croxford is at the top of the Your Community Candidates ticket, which pledges to form a council free from party political agendas. The groups website urges voters not to risk a council influenced by party politics and says that party politics has no place in local government.

Mr Croxfords bio on the Your Community Candidates website lists his background as a lobbyist and a senior ministerial adviser in the Howard government, but not his position as a country representative on the NSW Liberal Party executive, or his party membership.

The membership is declared on his nomination form on the Electoral Commission website.

I hide in the open, Mr Croxford said. I am in the Liberal Party for the purpose of federal and state politics. I personally dont believe there is any room for party politics in local politics.

He said he always discloses his Liberal Party roots when he is speaking to constituents.

I am happy to say I am a Liberal member but as a councillor I want to be a representative of my community, he said.

The Declaration of Independents Local Government, created by the Voices of North Sydney group, has been signed by 56 candidates in the Lane Cove, North Sydney, Willoughby, Hunters Hill and Georges River councils.

Rod Simpson, the co-convener of the Voices of North Sydney group, says the intention of the declaration is to get some transparency into local government.

Its asking people what their political status is and whether they have been [a member of a political party] in the past and whether they have made political donations or been a staffer, says Mr Simpson, who is a former environment commissioner with the Greater Sydney Commission.

Its really hard for people to untangle this and we are just trying to bring it up to the surface and make it easy for people to see what on earth is going on.

The Declarations stated intention is to differentiate community-minded independents from independents who are affiliated with political parties. A community minded independent is defined as a candidate who is not currently a member of a political party, and will vote as an individual.

At the Shoalhaven Council, Serena Copley is billed as an independent on the ballot form, but the NSW Electoral Commission records show she is also a Liberal Party member.

Serena Copley is a candidate for Shoalhaven City Council.Credit:Facebook/Serena Copley for Shoalhaven City Council

The same goes for the other candidates on her ticket, Fred Campbell, Leonard White and Francoise Sikora.

Ms Copleys team is called A Fresh Approach and does not mention any connection with the Liberal Party in its promotional materials.

Council candidates Fred Campbell OAM and Leonard White.Credit:Facebook/Serena Copley for Shoalhaven City Council

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In response to questions from The Sydney Morning Herald, Ms Copley said she had been a member of the Shoalhaven community for more than 30 years.

They know me and what I stand for, she said. I am running as an independent so I can represent my community and only my community, not any party or their agenda.

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Liberal Party members running as independents, community candidates in local elections - The Sydney Morning Herald

OTTAWA -- Leslyn Lewis, in one of her first acts as an MP on Parliament Hill, says she plans on inviting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a pregnancy centre that risks losing its charity status over opposing abortion.

The newly elected Ontario representative revealed her plans to a recent crowd of demonstrators who gathered in Ottawa to rally against the Liberal government's promise to remove charity status for anti-abortion organizations.

During the election campaign, Trudeau ran on a platform pledge to no longer provide this status for organizations that provide "dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options available to them at all stages of the pregnancy."

It listed crisis pregnancy centres as an example, which proponents of access to abortion services say offer incorrect information about the procedure.

"We know that regardless of the fact that they may distribute some diapers, they have impacts on people's access to health care, and they have public health impacts in terms of delayed access to care," said Frederique Chabot, director of health promotion at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, said of crisis pregnancy centres.

In a statement, Lewis, a former Conservative leadership contender who was heavily backed by the party's social conservative members, said Trudeau ran on a plan that required "adherence (to) the Liberal Party of Canada's illiberal values test," as she touted pregnancy centres for offering supports to women.

"Too often, women find themselves in a position where they feel that the circumstances of life are pushing them to make a decision they don't want to make," she said.

"As a member of Parliament, I will be opposing the proposed illiberal, anti-women policy that would seek to strip charitable status from organizations that don't pass Justin Trudeau's values test," Lewis said her statement.

In a statement, Adrienne Vaupshas, press secretary for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, repeated the wording of the Liberals' platform pledge, adding only that "more information will be available in due course."

In an interview, charity tax lawyer Adam Aptowitzer warned moving on the promise would be a politically loaded process that could open the country up to a debate about what counts as "charitable" in Canada.

"They surely do not want to get into that discussion because that is really fraught with difficulty," he said.

Campaign Life Coalition, a national organization opposed to abortion, has nonetheless been mobilizing against the promise. On Wednesday, it presented petitions to Lewis, as well as other MPs that hail from the federal Tories' social conservative ranks.

One of those was Alberta MP Arnold Viersen, who appeared alongside Lewis at that day's Parliament Hill demonstration. He told the crowd they would fight the move "tooth and nail in the House of Commons."

How much Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole plans to back that battle, however, remains unclear.

Asked about the Liberal pledge on Thursday, O'Toole repeated he supports reproductive rights, and that he doesn't believe in politicizing health issues.

"If anyone is at crisis, for any reason, whether it's addiction, homelessness, an issue related to choice for a woman, we need to bring people together, not divide them. And that's what Conservatives will try and do."

Several years ago, the Conservatives mounted a vocal opposition to the Liberal government's requirement that applicants to its summer-jobs program needed to pledge support for abortion access to qualify for funding.

Last month, a Federal Court judge dismissed a legal challenge against that rule, which came from Toronto Right to Life.

The social conservative grassroots of the Conservative party have been some of the fiercest critics of O'Toole because they say he backed down from promises he made to them when he was running for the leadership last year, where he directly appealed to supporters of Lewis.

Despite what was viewed as an impressive showing during the race, Lewis was left on the backbenches when O'Toole named his picks for critics earlier in the month.

O'Toole says as Conservative leader, he's a supporter of reproductive rights.

Most of his caucus voted in favour of a private member's bill from Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall in June that proposed to ban physicians from performing what is known as sex-selective abortion.

The bill was defeated easily after Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs characterized it as a Trojan horse to erode reproductive rights.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2021.

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New Conservative MP Lewis to fight Liberal plan to axe charity status for anti-abortion pregnancy centres - CTV News

The Conservatives under leader Erin O'Toole thrived and the Liberals under Justin Trudeau lost ground in new polls conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News and The Globe and Mail.

In the first poll, released Sept. 3, the Conservatives had 35.7 per cent, and the Liberals are at 30.7 per cent. The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Before the election was called, polls showed the Liberals had the potential for a majority government.

O'Toole is also doing well when it comes to who Canadians prefer as Prime Minister. After previously trailing the incumbent, OToole is now at 31.1 per cent support, Trudeau is at 27.3 per cent, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is at 19.6 per cent.

Looking at the trend, Erin O'Toole is shaping up to be a political freight train, pollster Nik Nanos told CTVNews.ca's Trend Line podcast. It's been a game changer of an election and Erin O'Toole definitely has momentum.... I think we have to say, factoring the ballot numbers, that O'Toole has been the top performer in this campaign, and O'Toole's performance on a day-to-day basis had been driving that incremental increase.

Tick tock for the Liberals because time is running out in this election," he added.

Another Nanos poll conducted in late August indicated 76 percent of Canadians felt holding an election this year, during a fourth wave of COVID, was not necessary.

The Liberals also fare poorly in the second recent Nanos poll, with 45 percent of Canadians feeling the current government did not do a good job in evacuating Canadians and Afghan nationals who helped the Canadian Armed Forces as the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Only 20 percent rated the efforts as good (16 percent) or very good (four percent). About 25 percent said the government did an "average " job.

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Conservatives thrive, Liberals dive in new polls | City News | thesuburban.com - The Suburban Newspaper