The Liberals backed themselves into a corner on firearms — leaving no option but surrender

Conservatives were beaming on Friday after the Liberal government quietly and suddenly abandoned its hotly debated attempts to expand firearms restrictions through Bill C-21.

“My Conservative team and I have forced Justin Trudeau into a temporary but humiliating climb-down today,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre crowed.

It was a “climb-down” and it was “humiliating” — that much seems beyond dispute. But if Conservative criticism was a deal-breaker for this government, the Liberals would have a hard time getting much of anything passed.

What truly forced the government to retreat was more likely the simple fact that they couldn’t count on enough support from everyone else. And the government’s mistake was to allow itself to get so thoroughly cornered that throwing up its hands was the only conceivable way forward.

C-21 was designed and presented originally as legislation to implement a national freeze on handgun sales. Had it remained that, it might have passed the House of Commons by now. The bill was approved at second reading last June, with all Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs voting in favour.

But when MPs on the public safety committee got around to considering possible amendments to the bill this fall, the Liberal side put forward two changes that would have affected a much larger number of firearms. The government was swiftly and loudly accused of overreaching in a way that would have an adverse impact on law-abiding hunters and farmers.

So much for ‘no surprises’

Beyond even the practical impacts, the execution was awkward and strange.

Among those apparently caught off-guard by the amendments were the New Democrats, the government’s partners in the confidence-and-supply agreement. The second sentence of that agreement stipulates that “to ensure coordination on this arrangement, both Parties commit to a guiding principle of ‘no surprises.'”

That’s no small detail. That principle of “no surprises” — of ensuring one party knows what the other is going to do and why — is critical to building and maintaining the trust that makes a confidence-and-supply deal work.

It may be particularly important when dealing with an issue like gun control, which has proved difficult for the NDP in the past.

But the NDP was not the only player the government had to worry about. Liberal MP Kody Blois, chair of the party’s rural caucus, called the amendments “problematic.” The Assembly of First Nations passed a resolution officially opposing the changes.

“What…