Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, welcomed the release Tuesday of his department's 2018 threat level report. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

A government bill repealing contentious Conservative changes to Canada’s firearm law cleared its final hurdle in Parliament Tuesday, paving the way for an even tougher battle over guns as the October election approaches.

Bill C-71, strongly opposed by gun lobbies and firearm owners since Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tabled it in the House of Commons on March 20, 2018, sailed through its final Senate vote with Independent and Liberal senators outnumbering Conservatives and a handful of other opponents 55-33.

Former Conservative Senators Mike Duffy and Pam Wallin, now members of the Independent Senators Group caucus, voted with the Conservatives to oppose the bill.

After the Independent Senate Group used its overwhelming Senate majority to defeat amendments Conservative senators managed to get through in committee study, the legislation now requires only Royal Assent to become law.

The bill primarily covers non-restricted rifles and shotguns, with renewed requirements for validation of licences before the sale or transfer of long guns and mandatory record keeping for gun dealers and retailers.

Bill C-71 also extends background checks for licence applications and renewals — which could extend back for a lifetime instead of a five-year check under the previous law.

The legislation, however, also repeals Conservative amendments to the Criminal Code that gave cabinet the power to overrule RCMP classifications for restricted and prohibited firearms — last-minute changes before the 2015 election that allowed then Conservative Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney to rescind prohibited designations the Canadian Firearms Program had given to certain semi-automatic rifles imported from Czechoslovakia and Switzerland.

Under Bill C-71 amendments to the Firearms Act, cabinet will continue to have authority to adjust RCMP classifications for restricted and prohibited firearms, but only to increase the level of restriction rather than lower it as the Conservative government did.

For activists in the firearm community, attention has already shifted to the Trudeau government’s reaction to calls for a ban on handguns and military style semi-automatic rifles in the wake of gang violence and shootings last summer and the Jan. 29, 2017, shooting of six Muslim worshippers at a Quebec City mosque.

Recent claims that Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair is considering prohibition of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and possibly other semi-automatics, through regulation by cabinet has sparked at least three of Canada’s major firearm-rights organizations to spur members and supporters into preparations for a campaign leading up to the Oct. 19 federal election.

Blair has not confirmed or denied the rumour, which began with a statement from former Conservative MP Tony Clement, now sitting as an Independent in the Commons after his expulsion from the Conservative caucus over sexual exchanges on Instagram that had led to extortion attempts.

Clement suggested the ban would take place through a simple order from cabinet, called an Order in Council (OIC), rather than legislation.

An aide to Blair had earlier indicated, in a response to questions from iPolitics, that any ban on either handguns, or rifles once designed and manufactured as assault-style weapons, would be introduced through legislative changes.

“Our government is considering a number of actions to help reduce firearms violence up to, and including, a handgun and assault-style firearms ban,” Marie-Emmanuelle Cadieux, Blair’s senior communications adviser, said in an email.

“We will carefully consider all feedback to determine if any changes are required to firearms legislation and/or the Criminal Code to keep our communities safe,” Cadieux said in response to questions about Blair’s report on consultations over handguns and rifles last month.

“Any legislation proposed by the Government to reduce firearms violence must protect public safety while also considering the lawful use of firearms by Canadians,” Cadieux said.

The recent speculation sparked by Clement’s comment in the Commons incited an election-focused reaction from one of the most vocal of the gun lobbies in Canada.

An in-house lobbyist and communications director for the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights posted a call to arms.

“It’s painfully clear the Liberals have completely given up on doing anything credible or effective to combat crime,” posted Tracey Wilson, the coalition’s vice-president for communications.

“Gun Bans, OICs and What You Can Do, A Call to Action,” the post said.

It included specific advice for election campaign action.

“You need to determine what riding you are in,” Wilson wrote. “Then find the federal candidate that most aligns with your views. Liberals, NDP and the Green Party all have very public, unfriendly firearm policies, so do the math.”

Responding to an emailed question, Wilson did not respond directly to a question about whether the CCFR planned to register as a third party participant in the coming election, a required legality for any group planning to buy advertising to oppose a candidate or party.

“We always encourage our members to donate, volunteer and support a candidate that supports our sport,” Wilson said. “The CCFR is non-partisan, but it is painfully clear where gun owners stand with some parties.”

The executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association suggested in a telephone interview his group would likely register as a third party participant in the election, as it has done for the past two federal elections.

Executive director Tony Bernardo said the association also urges members to “volunteer and donate to candidates who support shooting sports.”

The B.C.-based head of the National Firearms Association, one of the senior firearm lobbies in Canada, said the association’s board is considering registration as a third party for the election battle ahead.

“We have our volunteers in place,” said NFA president Sheldon Clare. “We strongly encourage our members to work for and donate to candidates we support.”

While the gun groups repeated statements they’ve made in the yearlong contest over Bill C-71, one of the most prominent gun-control advocates in the country, Montreal-based PolySeSouvient (Poly Remembers), called passage of the legislation “a significant step in the right direction.”

“While the measures in Bill C-71 are a direct outcome of the Liberal (2015) election platform, most are weaker then expected and many include significant concessions to the gun lobby,” said the co-ordinator of PolySeSouvient, Heidi Rathjen.

The advocacy group was founded after a gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle shot and killed 14 women, mostly students, at the Montreal engineering school Polytechnique in 1989.The killer used a hunting knife to finish off one of the students before shooting himself in the head.

This story has been updated to include the fact that the shooter stabbed one of the victims after shooting her and then killed himself