EDMONTON—The government of Alberta says it’s taking back jurisdiction on the handling of gun-related charges from Ottawa.
Justice Minister Tyler Shandro wrote a letter to federal justice minister David Lametti on Dec. 15, advising the province would be exercising their “constitutional jurisdiction [to] protect firearms owners from an increasingly hostile federal government.”
“It’s a choice that we get to make. It’s not a negotiation with the federal government,” Shandro said of the decision at a news conference on Dec. 15. This has previously been handled entirely by federal government lawyers, but the government of Alberta says in a statement that provinces have the constitutional authority to handle Criminal Code matters, including charges related to the Firearms Act….