Edited Hansard • Number 174
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton--Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, back in 1995 the justice minister claimed that registering guns was just like registering cars. If that is true, why is the justice minister now issuing millions of firearms registration certificates without the owners' names on them?
Hon. Martin Cauchon (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, as I said many times in the House of Commons, the registration process was put in place to make sure that Canadian society received better protection with regard to the use of firearms. I stand for that principle and I guess the country as a whole stands for that principle. As we have said, the registration, licensing and mechanisms are working quite well. We are proud of it as a government.
Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton--Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, I do not think he heard the question. He has not answered it. The provinces have registered 18.1 million vehicles in Canada, each one with the owner's name on it. The justice department has spent $700 million to register only 3.3 million guns without the owners' names. How can the provinces get it so right and the justice minister and the federal government get it so wrong?
Hon. Martin Cauchon (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, we are basically talking about a question of principle here. We do believe that the policy that is in place will offer better protection for Canadian society. It is a choice, as well, that we have made as a society. As we said, the registration and the licensing process is working well. Not long ago we talked about the question of outsourcing in order to keep offering our Canadian population very good services on that side.
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