TRANSLATED
FROM FRENCH TO ENGLISH
PUBLICATION:
Le
Soleil
DATE:
2004.10.30
SECTION:
Sports
PAGE:
S7
COLUMN:
Chasse et pêche
BYLINE:
Bellemare, André-A.
Ottawa applying the Firearms Act by means of a
discriminatory lottery
Ordered
by the federal government to reduce its spending by tens of millions of dollars
a year, the Canadian Firearms Centre (CFC) randomly drew the names of 770,000
gun owners whose firearm licences will be extended free of charge for between
one and four years! Millions of
other hunters who own shotguns and rifles but were not as lucky in the lottery
will have to pay a $60 fee to renew their five year licences. The CFC recently
notified the “winners” of their good fortune. Over the coming months, the
“losers” will be getting a letter, a form to complete and of course … a
bill.
In
2005, the Canadian Firearms Centre will have neither the equipment nor the staff
to deal with the crush of millions of firearm licences coming up for their
five-year renewal. The first licences were issues on January 1, 2001. The CFC is
expecting a “flood” of renewal applications next year, at a time when Prime
Minister Paul Martin is ordering spending cuts.
To
"save" money...
In
an effort to save money, the CFC decided to randomly pick names from the list of
gun owners registered in its computer database and extend their licences
free of charge for one, two, three or four years. The Centre also wants to
stagger renewals, something Ottawa forgot to provide for in the regulations made
under the Firearms Act.
Clearly,
it would have been too much to expect public servants to come up with
cost-saving measures that are simple to understand and apply, and that respect
the rights and well-being of citizens. The CFC could, for example, have deferred
renewals for a few years until it had the necessary resources to complete the
process. It could also have made it
unnecessary for hunters to register themselves and their firearms, obliging only
pistol and revolver owners to register. This system has already cost in excess
of $1 billion, and will have cost another $1 billion by 2010. In typical fashion
and looking to perpetuate their jobs, public servants have instead developed a
needlessly complicated solution.
"Stupidity"
The
CFC’s formula is so outrageous that the “winners” of the infamous lottery
aren’t even winning the same thing. Some will have their licences renewed at
no charge for one year; for others it will be two, three or even four years.
Most of the winners will have their licences renewed for two or three years;
very few will have them renewed free of charge for four years. The lottery will
draw only from the database of holders of “possession” licences, not the
database of gun owners who were issued “possession and acquisition” licences.
Those people will have to pay a $60
fee to renew their licences for five years.
Discrimination
It is the first time in Canada’s history that a
federal agency has held a lottery to decide who will be subjected to the
Criminal Code and who will not! The Firearms Act is part of the Criminal Code.
This approach, which one Conservative MP has called unconstitutional and
discriminatory, is just another cherry on the cake that is the federal
government’s ridiculous system to register gun owners and their hunting rifles
and shotguns.
The
politicians representing our province in Ottawa are keeping mum
while the federal government stomps on Quebec hunters.
It is a Conservative MP from Saskatchewan,
Garry Breitkreuz, who continues to defend the interests of Quebec hunters in the
House of Commons.
Many questions
What
guarantee do we have that the CFC has in fact done a random computer lottery?
Which totally impartial individuals or groups oversaw the lottery, if one did in
fact take place? What guarantee do we have that the “winners” of a free
licence renewal are not members of the Liberal Party of Canada or friends and
relatives of party leaders? Who is to say that the winners have not been
selected solely in the constituencies represented by a member of the party in
power in the House of Commons? Have the concerned citizens of every province
been treated in an equitable manner, or has the CFC tried to specifically
“punish” the one million hunters in Quebec?
Why
do the winners of the free licence renewal not all win the same thing? Might it
be because the CFC is making things up so that it and its “little friends”
are the perpetual “winners” of the system? Why were holders of “possession
and acquisition” licences not eligible for the lottery and a chance to have
their licences renewed at no charge? Does the CFC’s approach respect the
Charter of Rights, which guarantees that all citizens of Canada will be treated
equally by their government and not discriminated against?
Wait
a minute!
The
“losers” in the CFC draw should wait for clear and absolutely certain
answers to be officially provided for each of these questions before applying to
have their “possession and acquisition” licences renewed. Who is to say
whether this nonsense might be significantly modified or completely eliminated?
Prime
Minister Paul Martin will continue to try to claw his way out of a pit that is
being perpetually filled by the Canadian Firearms Centre until he finally
decides to do away with the federal system for registering hunters and their
shotguns and rifles.