"Organ donor registry and fight against organized crime take back seat to $275 million gun registry."

Ottawa – Yesterday in the House of Commons, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, exposed two serious flaws in the government’s priorities. "The Minister of Health says he wants to save lives but he rejects an organ donor registry because of the financial implications. The Solicitor General says fighting organized crime is his number one priority but he can’t or won’t invest the hundreds of millions to finance the RCMP’s fight. Isn’t it odd that these two Cabinet Minister’s don’t know where to find the money but I do?" asked Breitkreuz.

Here are Breitkreuz’s questions and the Liberal Minister’s twisted answers:

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, the Health Minister has rejected the standing committee's recommendations to establish a national registry for organ transplants.

Hon. Allan Rock (Minister of Health, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, this member can always be relied upon to get his facts wrong; always. It is no surprise that he would ask the question he has just put. The committee did not recommend a national organ donor registry. The committee recommended a national effort by all governments working together to increase the rate of organ donation in this country by taking specific concrete steps. We have accepted those recommendations. We are working to achieve them. The provinces have agreed it will happen. By November we will have a work plan to make sure it does. Once again the Reform Party is completely out to lunch.

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, last week in the House the Solicitor General declared: "Fighting organized crime is the number one law enforcement priority of the government". The Canadian Police Association recently referred to organized crime in Canada as an epidemic. If fighting organized crime is the number one priority of the government, can the Solicitor General please explain why it spends hundreds of millions to register shotguns owned by duck hunters rather than improving public safety by giving the RCMP the resources it needs to fight organized crime?

Hon. Lawrence MacAulay (Solicitor General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, and I am pleased my hon. colleague is well aware, this government has indicated that it will give the RCMP the tools to do the job. For example, we gave CPIC $115 million to make sure it was brought up to date. We put $18 million into a DNA data bank. I am very pleased the opposition has come to realize this government is fighting organized crime.

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