I am writing to you today as a Canadian citizen and a resident of Alberta to request that you and other members of the senate send Bill C-21 back to parliament for proper debate.
As I am sure you are aware this bill is cobbled together with various Orders In Council and amendments made to the bill after committee debate had closed. The amendments made after committee and the use of the Order In Councils have deprived myself and other Canadians of having our elected representatives being able to fully and completely debate this act in parliament, therefore depriving me and other Canadians of our right to be properly represented by our elected officials.
This bill is particularly onerous for many reasons, my two main concerns are:
-It is clearly directed at millions of Canadian firearms owners who have been tested, vetted, licensed and monitored by the RCMP and does nothing to address any of the real issues facing Canadians because of criminal gangs and their willingness to engage in violence using illegally acquired firearms, or the smuggling of those firearms into Canada.
-By including all of the previously “banned” firearms into the amendment it has the look of possibly evading the earlier promised “buy back”. This is particularly frightening as the only protection Canadians have from confiscation of privately held property without cause or compensation is legal precedent going back to the Magna Carta. There is no protection of property rights in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This bill involves confiscation without cause, possibly without compensation and at least without adequate compensation. Therefore it is a significant infringement upon the freedoms and property rights of millions of law abiding Canadians firearms owners and possibly a significant erosion of the property rights of all Canadians.
There are other aspects to C-21 which are problematic as well but I do not wish to waste your time with a dozen page dissection of the issues and concerns I have with this bill.
In short Bill C-21 is onerous, expensive, ineffective, unreasonable and worthy of return to parliament if for no other reason than the opportunity for proper debate.
