Albertans should expect to see a provincial firearms act in the spring of 2023, says Premier Danielle Smith.
Speaking on the weekly
“Your Province, Your Premier” radio show on Dec. 3, Smith said Justice Minister Tyler Shandro is already “well underway” preparing legislation in response to the federal government’s plan to add more weapons to the 1,500-plus makes and models of “assault-style” firearms already
banned in Canada in May 2020.
Federal Bill C-21, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act, among other legislation, is now being debated by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.
If passed, the act will ban most semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, many of which some gun owners
say are ordinary hunting shotguns and rifles purchased legally, and which are unrestricted and unregistered. The proposed amendments would also ban any gun that can hold a detachable magazine.
Alberta plans to follow Saskatchewan’s lead in introducing its own firearms act in response to the federal gun control legislation, Smith said. Sask. Premier Scott Moe
introduced the Saskatchewan Firearms Act on Dec.1.
“The Constitution gives us powers of property and civil rights regulating how people use their property, this [legislation] is totally within our jurisdiction,” Smith said.
The premier said that policing and the administration of justice also fall within the provincial domain.
“Our policing contract with the RCMP, we get to decide what our policing priorities are,” she said. “Saskatchewan, Manitoba are following suit. We’ve got New Brunswick and the Yukon who have also agreed that the federal government has gone too far. So that is on our agenda.”
The current Alta. legislature sitting ends Dec. 22 for Christmas break. Smith said the government would not have time to bring the legislation in the current session, but that “it’s something that we would be bringing in, in the spring.”
In addition to Alberta and Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and the
Yukon have expressed opposition to the federal government’s proposed gun ban and have suggested it will not be enforced within their jurisdiction.
Smith has vowed to ensure more “sovereignty” for Alberta, and said the province will create its own police force. A
sovereignty bill introduced in the legislature last week would allow the province to push back against the federal government if policies are “harmful” to Alberta’s interests or fall within provincial jurisdiction under the constitution.
