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Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was firearms.

Last in Parliament October 2015, as Conservative MP for Yorkton—Melville (Saskatchewan)

Won his last election, in 2011, with 69% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act May 25th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I too was at the committee when the witnesses appeared. I listened very carefully to what they had to say. The police officers were invited to come as witnesses, but as far as I know, only one policeman showed up and he was fine with the bill. He had no problems with it. If they would have had a problem with it, they could have come to committee to give their point of view.

I want to correct a couple of incorrect points the member has made. There is not one thing in the bill that compromises public safety, despite what she has said. The authorization to transport is now being harmonized across Canada. There were provinces that automatically included the ATT in their restricted firearms licence. I know British Columbia had years where one simply applied once and got an ATT.

Another thing is that the classification she complained about was very arbitrary. It did not work. Here is an example. A firearm that was legal in Canada for 10 years was suddenly, arbitrarily, reclassified. It made people criminals and they did not even know about it. We as a government had to correct this mistake.

There are many other things I would like to say that were not correct, but those are a couple examples.

Member for Yorkton—Melville May 14th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, after nearly 22 years as the member of Parliament for Yorkton—Melville, my work in this place is quickly coming to a close. It has been an honour and a privilege to represent the constituents of Yorkton—Melville. Who would have thought that a simple farm boy, educated in a one-room country school, would end up on Parliament Hill?

As a newbie to Ottawa and the ways of Parliament back in 1993, I grew to depend on good advice, be it from my staff, my colleagues or the countless professional employees who work for the House of Commons. There are so many employees within the parliamentary precinct who make our work here on the Hill a whole lot easier. Employees from the Library of Parliament to the Clerk's office, from printing and mailing services to IT, from the parliamentary restaurant to security services, and I could go on. Staff like Elizabeth Nye, Dennis Young, Sandy Campeau, the list is endless. I am filled with gratitude to all who have assisted me over the years.

I want to recognize all the employees who work on the Hill for their dedication and outstanding service. I am truly grateful to them all.

Petitions May 14th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition today that sadly informs the House that Rayel MacDonald was tragically killed by a drunk driver who chose to drive while impaired. Rayel's family is devastated.

Families for Justice is a group of Canadians who have had a loved one killed by an impaired driver. They believe that Canada's impaired driving laws are much too lenient. They want the crime to be called what it is: vehicular homicide. It is the number one cause of criminal death in Canada, where 1,200 Canadians are killed every year by drunk drivers. Families for Justice are calling for mandatory sentences for vehicular homicide and for this Parliament to support Bill C-652, Kassandra's law.

Petitions May 7th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition today that sadly informs this House that Karmen Meyers and Lee Meyers, a brother and sister, were tragically killed 10 years apart by two separate drunk drivers who chose to drive while impaired. The Meyers family was devastated.

Families for Justice is a group of Canadians who have had a loved one killed by an impaired driver. They believe that Canada's impaired-driving laws are much too lenient. They want the crime to be called what it is: vehicular homicide. It is the number-one cause of criminal death in Canada. More than 1,200 Canadians are killed every year by drunk drivers. Families for Justice is calling for mandatory sentencing for vehicular homicide and for this Parliament to support Bill C-652, Kassandra's law.

Petitions May 6th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition that sadly informs the House that Bradley Arsenault, age 18, Kole Novak, age 18, and Thaddeus Lake, age 22 were tragically killed by a drunk driver that chose to drive while impaired. The Arsenault, Novak and Lake families have been left devastated.

Families For Justice is a group of Canadians who have had a loved one killed by an impaired driver. These Canadians believe that Canada's impaired driving laws are much too lenient. They want the crime to be called what it is, vehicular homicide. It is the number one cause of criminal death in Canada. Over 1,200 Canadians are killed every year by a drunk driver.

Families For Justice is calling for mandatory sentences for vehicular homicide and for Parliament to support Bill C-652, Kassandra's law.

Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act April 1st, 2015

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question, finally.

Let me explain for those who are watching and may not know what a PAL and a POL are. A license to acquire firearms is a PAL. POL is a license to simply own them and not to acquire any others. We would amalgamate that. It would simplify the paperwork.

People who have had a POL for eight years have proven themselves to be safe. Why not put that into one license? It would simply the paperwork, reduce the bureaucracy and save the government money.

Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act April 1st, 2015

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the only comments those members can make are not related to the bill. We are here today to talk about Bill C-42. Why can the member not come up with some issues that concern Bill C-42, rather than some extraneous thing I have not even read and asking me to comment on it?

These are common sense firearms measures. If the member agrees with that, I hope he will support us. If he does not, how about some substantial criticism of the bill?

Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act April 1st, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the member admitting that it is illegal handguns that are the problem. When we last debated this several months ago, the opposition made the point that most of the guns that were used in crime came from law-abiding citizens because they had been stolen from them. Finally, he admits that we have to put more resources into stopping the flow of illegal guns.

Ninety per cent of the firearms that are involved in crime in Toronto, where he is from, are illegally owned. They are not registered. We have had a handgun registry since 1934. If we had used the $2 billion that was wasted on the gun registry and had started to put it into police resources to enforce our laws, we would be much safer right now. The opposition often misses this point.

Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act April 1st, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I want to continue from where I left off some time ago. The bill has been before the House for quite some time, so people may not remember those comments. I invite them to look them up in Hansard.

The changes that are proposed in Bill C-42 show just how serious we are about improving public safety and keeping the public safe from real threats rather than simply trying to take guns out of the hands of hunters and sports shooters. There are types of common sense measures that are important to bring forward. They keep the public safe without putting needless barriers on law-abiding Canadians. That is the main point I want to continue to make.

I would like to address one of the colossal problems that has been raised in the firearms community, and that has a direct impact on thousands of law-abiding gun owners.

In February of 2014, overnight and by the mere stroke of a bureaucrats pen, thousands of law-abiding gun owners became criminals. Without taking any action on their own at all, thousands of Canadians were unwittingly potentially the subject of criminal charges that came with a mandatory three year prison sentence. I am of course talking about the reclassification of the CZ858 and the Swiss Arms family of rifles.

Our government took swift and decisive action at that time to condemn this nonsensical decision and to put in place measures to allow people to use their property and to protect them from prosecution. However, at the end of the day, individuals who owned the impacted rifles were still in legal limbo. Their ability to use their property varies across the country. Their ability to sell their own property was halted. They could not even plan for the future use of their asset, given the amnesty had an expiration date.

This legislation would end arbitrary reclassifications once and for all. For the first time, the elected government would have oversight of classification decisions. On the advice of outside experts, elected officials would be able to overturn incorrect decisions. Additionally, once the bill receives royal assent, the impacted rifles will have their original classification status restored.

It is clear that these measures are safe and sensible, as everything else in the bill is. While the bill is by no means a panacea for all responsible gun owners, many think it is a good start, including me.

I know there are MPs in all political parties who support Canadian heritage activities that include hunting and sport shooting. It is my sincere hope that those members, regardless of their political affiliation, will support the legislation. It will save money and focus on fighting crime. If we listen to the experts who agree, the paperwork does not stop gun crime.

I would like to made a few additional comments.

Those who oppose this legislation are never able to explain how what they advocate will ever reduce crime. For example, there was a lot of talk about the gun registry when it was abolished that it would violate public safety, increase crime and all those kinds of things. Murders using long guns—that is rifles and shotguns—have steadily declined since the registry was abolished. If $2 billion had not been wasted but rather invested in measures that could improve public safety, we could have truly saved lives.

For example, if we had a stronger police presence in some areas of our cities, that would be effective. We need to promote healthy outdoor sports activities for the youth of Canada. That is healthy and good for them.

I would also like to point out that many people on the opposition side use the term “gun control” and they somehow equate it to public safety, but they never explained how it will improve public safety. The one thing they can never explain is how if one lays a piece of paper beside a firearm, it is somehow will control what criminals do with that firearm. It does not make sense. We are bringing in common sense firearm laws. That is what needs to be done.

If we look back in history, we can see that all the criticism the long gun registry received was valid. We changed that and crime did not increase. In fact, crime with firearms decreased.

Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act April 1st, 2015

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege for me to rise and support the minister on Bill C-42.

This bill has been around for almost six months. I have been listening very carefully to the debate here, there, and everywhere, and no new issues have come up. The only thing that I hear them complaining about is that there is another time allocation motion. If a bill has been around and has not been criticized in terms of its substance, I see no problem with it.

I would like to thank the minister for this bill. However, I would like to point out some of the incorrect things that have been said today.

That this bill would make guns easier to get is totally false. That it somehow would make it easier for guns to be transported in Canada is a comment that shows the lack of knowledge of the opposition members in regard to this bill, because it would not have any effect on the transport of guns. There was a statement that most guns are stolen from law-abiding people; how false that statement is.

We have all of these statements being made that are completely false. I wonder if the minister has any comment in regard to that.