TheGunBlog.ca — Canadian Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale will continue to oversee gun-owner licensing and firearm registration, including Bill C-71, after today’s ministerial changes, the prime minister’s office said.
“Minister Goodale remains the lead on Bill C-71 and the Firearms Act,” Eleanore Catenaro, a spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office, told TheGunBlog.ca today in an e-mailed response to questions.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau created a new Ministry of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction today under Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief.
“He will play an important role in coordinating efforts to reduce gun violence and tackle organized crime,” Trudeau said in a statement outlining leadership changes at more than a dozen ministries.
Speculation mounted among hunters and sport shooters that Blair would also be in charge of overseeing them and their firearms.
Catenaro said the details of Blair’s new responsibilities will be outlined in a mandate letter this summer.
The federal police, under the Ministry of Public Safety, manage Canada’s regime of licensing and monitoring of authorized gun owners and registering their firearms.
The main laws aimed at the country’s more than 2 million hunters, firearm collectors, recreational shooters and competitors are the Firearms Act and Criminal Code.
The government proposed Bill C-71 in March as legislation to further restrict licensed gun owners and confiscate more of their firearms. The draft law is currently under review by parliament.