Evidence of meeting #21 for Public Safety and National Security in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was firearm.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
I see where you are going with this. Would you like me to answer right away?
Bloc
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
That depends.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
My dog is registered, even though it is not a hunting dog. Dogs are normally registered in municipalities, but that may depend on the municipality. The hunting catch is counted, is it not?
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
It depends on the type of hunt.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
Fine.
There is one thing I do not understand. I will be straight with you: I, too, have been thinking about all of this. What is the problem with registering a gun? Everything is registered. Naturally, we register our vehicles, boats—everything is registered, but guns--
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
I can apply your same reasoning. We all know that everyone has to die. So, we should prohibit people from being born, and that way there would be no problem.
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
It is the same kind of argument.
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
If the Registry served some purpose, we would support it. I remember debating this, and other issues, with my member of Parliament at the time, Pierre Brien. I said to him: give us the money that will be spent on the Registry. We wanted to do some education and prevention, but our means were very limited. At the same time, we were witnessing an appalling waste of public money.
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
Then help us, and we will help you. I agree with you that homicides and suicides are a problem. But look at the statistics for the last few years. Overall, there has been no change in Canada.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
Mr. Pelletier, I agree with you on one point: there is enormous waste, particularly for security at the G20 meeting. I consider one billion dollars to be excessive.
I would like to know one thing. You said you are against registering long guns, right? Your problem is long guns; you support abolishing the long gun registry.
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
Yes, that is correct.
Bloc
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
That is not our issue; I represent hunters.
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
You cannot hunt with handguns in Canada. So I am not going to take a position on that.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
Fine. Do you own any prohibited weapons? Is that part of your issue?
Volunteer Master Instructor in Gun Safety, Security Nature, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs
In the courses we teach, we tell people not to discuss their firearms, so that people will not be tempted to go and steal them. So, I will not answer that question.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
All right, fine.
I will move on to Ms. Fraser, if that is all right.
Ms. Fraser, you said that you have not conducted detailed audit work on the Canadian Firearms Program since 2006. Why have you not?
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
It simply was not a priority. There have been changes. In fact, the Centre itself has been dismantled and operations have been transferred to the RCMP. When we performed the last audit, in 2006, we noted satisfactory progress with respect to the recording of costs—which was a concern in 2002—and operations as well.
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
Will it be included in future studies? Is it included in your plans?
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
That is certainly possible, but it is not included in our plans for the coming years.