Public Safety Committee on June 19th, 2012

Evidence of meeting #47 for Public Safety and National Security in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was registry.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

4:45 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

So when we look at section 58 of the Firearms Act, it states that:

A chief firearms officer who issues a licence, an authorization to carry or an authorization to transport may attach any reasonable condition to it that the chief firearms officer considers desirable in the particular circumstances and in the interest of the safety of the holder or any other person.

Is it your and your government's view that for a store owner to keep information, even, on a non-restricted long gun is not a reasonable condition? You associate this as criminalizing law-abiding hunters and sportsmen and collectors. Is that what we're here to understand?

4:45 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Provencher, MB

First, when you have a general power to issue a condition to a licence, and you know that as a lawyer yourself, the general power cannot contradict a specific provision of the law. Here it specifically indicates that you can't compel the maintenance of that type of record as a condition of licence.

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

But the regulation does. Just to be clear, your regulations, if adopted, will wipe out section 58.

June 19th, 2012 / 4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Provencher, MB

Yes, I believe that C-19 does that as well. It limits what a reasonable condition can be, because the general condition that you're pointing out there cannot override a specific prohibition or a specific—

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

No, that we agreed.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Provencher, MB

So in that sense, a chief firearms officer can't say he's going to recreate the registry when, in fact, the actual act C-19 repeals that particular provision.

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

But how do you equate recreating a gun registry when that information from ledgers was not even part of the actual gun registry when the gun registry was set up in 1995?

Because you seem to equate the fact that a gun owner would keep some information about the restricted firearm, the information about the buyer, as if it's creating some type of federal gun registry, when it doesn't.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Provencher, MB

It's not the restricted. It's the non-restricted.

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

That's what I'm talking about.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Provencher, MB

No, you said restricted. I just wanted to make that clear.

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

Non-restricted.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Provencher, MB

Okay. Yes.

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

That's where we have such a clear and simple answer. So you do think that it would be recreating it through a back door?

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Provencher, MB

Yes.

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Françoise Boivin Gatineau, QC

Where is the criminal offence that used to be there with the gun registry, and so doing by your CFOs, which I've always understood was the main problem with your CSSA, who's part of your team of advisers and so on?

What was hurting at the time was that they felt criminalized. How come if I go to RadioShack and buy the computer that you talked about or even if I buy a non-restricted gun and they ask for my name, how does it make me feel as if I'm guilty of something? It's just keeping a record. Doesn't it make sense with guns?