Canadian election: Conservatives under fire for gun control election news

The Conservative Party of Canada has a weak lead in the fierce elections. After the Conservative Party has promised to adopt subversion The use of certain “offensive” weapons is prohibited in 2020.

Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole has been under pressure this week for her campaign promise to overturn last year’s ban on weapons such as AR-15, which was used by a gunman to kill 26 adults And children Sandy Hook Massacre in 2012 In the U.S.

O’Toole refused to answer these questions directly, noting that he planned to retain the 1977 separate assault rifle ban.

“Erin O’Toole is willing to say anything to Canadians to get elected. He lied to Canadians that he planned to lift the Liberal Party’s ban on offensive weapons,” the Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement on Saturday Said in.

So far, every question the reporter has asked Erin O’Toole today is putting pressure on him, asking him to clarify whether he will abolish certain guns for mass killings in Nova Scotia, Quebec City, and Montreal. Ban. So far, there has been no clear response.

— Glenn McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) September 4, 2021

Gun control is a sensitive issue in the country, especially in the French-speaking province of Quebec, where there are several Fatal mass shooting Happened in the past few decades.

Later Fatal attack Last year in Nova Scotia, Atlantic Province, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces ban in May More than 1,500 “assault” gun models and variants including AR-15.

Trudeau said at the time: “You don’t need AR-15 to shoot down a deer.” “Therefore, with immediate effect, the purchase, sale, transportation, import or use of military-grade offensive weapons in the country is no longer allowed.”

Over the years, the Canadian Liberal government has tightened gun control laws, but some conservative voters have complained that these measures are too strict and unnecessarily punish farmers and hunters.

On Saturday, O’Toole told reporters in Vancouver, “It makes me very disturbed to see Mr. Trudeau trying to introduce American-style politics, especially on public safety issues.”

O’Toole said that a big problem is the smuggling of weapons from the United States, and he also promised to review how Canada classifies weapons as dangerous weapons.

But the Conservative Party’s position has been criticized not only by competitors of the Liberal Party, but also by gun control advocates.

“Erin O’Toole said he would maintain the’ban’ on assault weapons, which is lying to Canadians,” said PolyRemembers, which was formed after a fatal mass shooting at an engineering school in Montreal in 1989 , The shooting resulted in the death of 14 women. dead.

Justin Trudeau triggers federal elections on August 15, two years earlier than originally planned [File: John Morris/Reuters]

In a statement on Friday, the organization accused O’Toole of “playing with semantics” and failed to answer reporters’ questions about its party’s position on the 2020 arms ban.

“He is talking about the decades-long ban on fully automatic weapons. He is very clear that the reporter’s question refers to the recent 2020 ban. What he is doing is to reflect the semantics strategy of the gun lobby to avoid defending the station. Something to stop,” it said.

this The Conservative Party has been profiting In recent weeks, Trudeau’s Decision to trigger early elections Some voters were angered two years earlier than scheduled.

The leader of the Liberal Party had hoped that his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic would enable the party to regain a majority in Parliament, but during the campaign he also faced a large number of protesters against masks and vaccines.

Saturday’s Ekos poll showed that the Conservative Party received 35% support, while the Liberal Party’s support rate was 28.8%, and the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Jagmeet Singh had a support rate of 19.6%. .

CBC’s vote trackerAs of Saturday morning, the Conservative Party, which aggregates Canadian public opinion survey data, received 34.1% support, while the Liberal Party received 31.2% support, and the New Democratic Party received 20.1% support.