MONTREAL—As the president of Quebec’s largest police union, Jean-Guy Dagenais forcefully defended Canada’s controversial long-gun registry, calling it a “must.”

On Tuesday, as he was officially presented as a star candidate for the Conservatives in the riding of Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, he was suddenly for its abolition.

“It gives police a false sense of security,” Dagenais told reporters as he stood next to Christian Paradis, Stephen Harper’s Quebec lieutenant currently on a tour of the province.

Dagenais called the registry’s administration “shameful,” adding, “It’s a program that cost $2 billion.”

While he led the Quebec Provincial Police Association, which counts 5,400 members, he was a strong advocate for the registry’s survival even as the Conservatives were working to kill it.

“Here, the registry is a must,” Dagenais told Le Journal de Quebec in March, 2010.

He was proposing the government transfer the administration of Quebec’s portion of the registry to the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial force.

Dagenais’ union was strongly in favour of the registry maintenance, describing it as a highly consulted tool that helps officers do their jobs.

On Tuesday, Dagenais saw no contradiction.

“I have not changed my mind,” he insisted.

“When you are president of an association you have a responsibility to carry the flame the association demands that you carry.”

The Tories lost a tight vote last September in the House of Commons that kept the registry alive, but vowed to continue the fight to abolish the registry.

The police officer-turned-politician is already being criticized for his new public stance.

“It’s a position that could compromise the safety of police in Quebec,” Denis Côté, president of the Quebec Federation of Municipal Police, an umbrella group for municipal police unions, told TVA.

Now that Dagenais is carrying the Tory flame he will try to unseat Bloc Quebecois incumbent Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac.

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It won’t be easy. She beat the Conservative candidate in 2008 by over 12,000 votes.

Dagenais did not respond to an interview request from the Star Tuesday.

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