Tories attack NDP machete-sales legislation as ‘window dressing’

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This article was published 28/10/2024 (364 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New legislation to restrict machete sales in an effort to reduce attacks is mere “window dressing,” the Progressive Conservatives argued in the legislature Monday.

Earlier this month, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe unveiled Bill 39, or the Long-Bladed Weapon Control Act. The bill would require retailers to securely store such weapons when on display, check buyers’ photo IDs and keep transaction details for at least two years.

It would apply to machetes, swords and other weapons containing a metal blade at least 30 centimetres long.

During question period Monday, PC justice critic Wayne Balcaen accused the governing New Democrats of creating a bill that serves as “window dressing.”

The bill is modelled after one the Progressive Conservatives created to restrict bear spray sales in 2023, when the party was in power. Manitoba has since seen a 25 per cent decrease in crimes committed with the use of bear spray.

Balcaen said there are fundamental differences: machetes don’t expire on the shelf and aren’t consumed during attacks.

“What I see right now is a bill that really is very taxing on retailers — the people that are selling this — but it’s not taxing on criminals,” he later told the Free Press.

“There’s no prohibitions put in place under this legislation for people possessing these. (The NDP are) relying on the criminal courts of Canada.”

He accused the NDP of creating the inadequately robust bill “very quickly.”

Wiebe called Balcaen’s comments “very concerning,” adding he thought the different parties were working “in good faith and in a non-partisan way to get this legislation moving.”

“We’re talking about some of the most horrific crimes we’ve experienced in our community,” he said.

Wiebe later pointed the Free Press to the Criminal Code, which does not classify machetes as restricted weapons, although the NDP is pushing the federal government for changes, he said. British Columbia’s attorney general has recently called for machetes to be considered restricted weapons in response to their street crime use.

Bill 39 is “the first and most direct step” Manitoba can take against machete attacks, Wiebe added.

“We’ve heard from community activists, we’ve heard from law enforcement… so many in the community are saying, ‘We need action now.’”

The bill would prohibit minors from buying long-bladed weapons and would apply to online retailers shipping items to Manitobans.

Ariel Martes, who suffered a machete attack on Oct. 11, believes tighter restrictions on machete sales is “great.”

“It’s frustrating… a person can buy a machete and hurt another person,” Martes said.

The 22-year-old was left with damaged tendons in his left hand and a deep gash below his left knee after being robbed and slashed with a machete. He was going home after his shift as a hotel server and two assailants stopped him just past midnight at Roch Street and Cheriton Avenue.

A 56-year-old was randomly assaulted with a machete Friday. The man was walking on Ellice Avenue at about 4:15 a.m.

Bill 39 was scheduled for debate later Monday.

— With files from Carol Sanders

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com