Buried in a response to an Order Paper question from the Conservative Party, the government included a single line detailing a letter sent to Gerald Butts, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, by Anil Arora, Canada’s Chief Statistician.
The subject of the September 4, 2018 letter?
“Latest information on crime and guns.”
Did Mr. Arora’s letter advise the Prime Minister’s principal secretary that these statistics were not correct?
Did Mr. Arora’s letter tell Gerald Butts there is no evidence to support the government’s call for a handgun ban?
We don’t know.
We keep asking the government for evidence to back up its claims.
The government keeps refusing to answer.
What we do know is this.
Two weeks after Mr. Arora sent his letter to Gerald Butts, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale stood in the House of Commons to open third reading on Bill C-71. [i] He then peddled the government’s misleading statistics to Parliament and the Canadian people.
Again.
Source:
[i] https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-322/hansard#Int-10248866
Talismans, Voodoo Dolls, Demons and Gun Bans