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Public servants spent a full month, at the “urgent” request of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, preparing two splashy announcements heralding the destruction of the long-gun registry data — only to have the events cancelled at the last moment without explanation.

The final deletion of millions of registry records last October 31 could be seen as a crowning achievement for a Conservative government that had campaigned against the registry for more than a decade.

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Instead, Toews confirmed the destruction during a closed-door meeting in Regina in a manner that one puzzled gun advocate likens to sliding “a note under the door.”

“Conservative MPs communicated the important news with their constituents,” Julie Carmichael, Toews spokeswoman, said this week in an email when asked about the low-key announcement.

She pointed to a news release posted on Toews’ local MP web site — a release that is not cached on Public Safety Canada’s web site with his many other ministerial announcements.