Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman.
Both the possession only licence and the possession acquisition licence were created for the Firearms Act, when it came into force in 1998, after receiving royal assent in 1995. At the time, a number of firearm owners were already in possession of firearms and it was a way to grandfather those current firearm owners who were very experienced. The average age of a POL—possession only licence holder—is 60, so they are very experienced firearm owners who have owned firearms for many years. They had their privileges grandfathered. Over time, we had expected and we are seeing fewer and fewer POL holders, and so we are streamlining the licensing regime to combine those licences into one, the possession acquisition licence. That is the only licence that will be available to new firearm owners. Those who possessed a POL and are being converted to a PAL will have acquisition rights as was the case when the act came into force. They will not be required to take the firearm safety course since, as we said, they are currently very experienced firearm owners.