Though the campaign hasn’t officially begun, Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca made what he touted as a “historic” announcement on Tuesday. In a province facing continued pressure on its hospitals due to COVID, sky-high housing costs, infrastructure woes, a broken long-term-care system and now inflation, Del Duca announced … a ban on handguns.
It’s a fairly routine ploy by the Liberals, who exploit the public’s ignorance of Canada’s gun-control system to pretend that what they’re proposing would be in any way effective. It wouldn’t be, as most handguns used to commit crimes in Canada are smuggled in from the United States, and any loss of domestic supply would be offset by more smuggled guns. Disarming law-abiding citizens will not stop criminals from using illegal firearms, but the Liberals sure like acting like it would.
It’s normally a good political move for them, especially in their urban fortresses, even though it’s bad policy. This time, though, it’s not even clear it’s good politics. Doug Ford isn’t Erin O’Toole, who stumbled badly over gun issues in the last federal election. The circumstances are different in this election. So are the issues.
That the Liberals would essentially kick off their campaign with an issue that is not front-and-centre for most Ontarians makes them seem wildly out of touch, and certainly seems like a missed opportunity.
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