Edited Hansard • Number 034
Thursday, November 28, 2002
Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, today's Globe and Mail headline blared, “Gun registry to cost around $1-billion”. A National Post editorial calls on the government, “Time to ditch the gun registry”. We hate to say it but we told you so. At a time when lineups for health services in Canada have reached critical levels, $1 billion would have bought, installed and operated 238 MRIs. Can the minister explain to Canadians how $1 billion blown on a useless gun registry was a better investment than 238 MRIs?
Hon. Martin Cauchon (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times, we on this side of the House have no concern with regard to the question of the policy. The gun registry policy is a good and valid one, and on this side of the House we will continue proceeding with it. Implementing the program has always been a challenge, and it is still a challenge. However when we look at the impact that it has had in our society, it represents values highly supported by the Canadian population. It is a wonderful investigative tool for police forces. It has been more costly but, overall, it is worth proceeding with such a fantastic value as protecting our society.
Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, Ontario's public safety minister, Bob Runciman, has blamed Ottawa for diverting money to a useless gun registry instead of using that money to address the real problem of the recent outbreak of handgun crime in Toronto. Last week the justice minister claimed that the revocation rate was higher compared to the previous system. The justice minister's own statistics revealed the opposite. Revocation under this new scheme is half of the old FAC program. Does the minister have new statistics to justify the wasting of $1 billion of taxpayers' money?
Hon. Martin Cauchon (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.): Of course, Mr. Speaker, the program has been a bit more costly. Some provinces have opted out. We brought some changes as well to the program following consultations. The technology has been more expensive, but members should look at the results. It is valuable to our society and it is protecting our society. It is a wonderful tool used by police forces in their investigations. For example, police access the online registry 1,500 times per day.
* * *