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“The beneficial effects of maintaining the registry in Quebec appear greater than the urgency of applying the new law which will do away with the long-gun registry and destroy the data,” Blanchard concluded.

The case is exceptional, Blanchard wrote, because two democratically elected governments have diametrically opposing views on what might be called the common good.

“Canada claims the new law, Quebec the old one, both allegedly adopted in the public interest,” he wrote.

Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier called the judgment a victory for Quebec and held out a hand to the federal government to co-operate with the province to establish its own registry.

“The federal government can’t behave as if it’s the only government in Canada,” he said at a news conference at the Montreal courthouse. “We know Quebec can set up its own registry so why not help it?

“Why throw away the 15-year-old historical trail of these guns?”

Julie Carmichael, spokeswoman for federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, wasted no time in responding by email.

“Our government will strongly oppose efforts to set Bill C-19 aside and will fight for as long as it takes to ensure the long-gun registry is scrapped once and for all to ensure freedom for law-abiding hunters, farmers and sport shooters.”

‘Canada claims the new law, Quebec the old one, both allegedly adopted in the public interest’

Gun-control advocates, including survivors from the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique shooting of 14 women and the 2006 shooting at Dawson College, were relieved that the judge didn’t buy the federal government’s long-held view that the registry is ineffective and wasteful.