Article content continued

“The firearms laws in Canada are actually very good right now. They’re very strict.”

The prime minister has highlighted recently passed gun-control legislation that extends the scope of background checks and strengthens record-keeping requirements for gun retailers.

Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia

Earlier this week, he said Canadians will learn more about Liberal plans for gun control during the upcoming campaign.

“I very much look forward to the election campaign in which we will be able to share with Canadians our vision for how to keep Canadians safer,” Trudeau said.

“That involves, yes, strengthening gun control but it also involves investments that … are so deeply needed in community infrastructure.”

Palmer suggested that handguns would still be around, even with a ban, because of Canada’s proximity to the United States.

“People can’t be naive to the realities of how it works with organized crime and smuggling,” he said.

“There will always be an influx of guns from the United States into Canada,” said Palmer. “Heroin is illegal in Canada, too, but we have heroin in Canada.

The association also discussed harassment and bullying in the workplace and the importance of making sure there are mental-health supports for those in policing.

“We have had suicides in Canada. I’ve had an officer die by suicide in my own department this year. It’s a very terrible thing to go through for the police service and there have been other services that have gone through this across Canada as well.

“They’re dealing with sexual assaults and child abuse, car chases, people with guns, people who have been shot and stabbed, exposure to blood and people spitting on them, swearing at them, assaulting them and they come back the next day and do it all over again.”