Public Safety Committee on April 23rd, 2015

[Kathy Thompson]

No. The ATT will be attached to conditions of a licence and it's simply going to streamline that process. I'll mention the two purposes for acquiring a firearm, one is for a gun collection and is very specific, and the other purpose is for use at a shooting range.

Today the amendment that is being considered, as part of Bill C-42, is a condition on the licence that, if approved, would allow a licensee to transport a restricted or prohibited firearm to very specific destinations, including going to and from a shooting range, to your own residence, to a gunsmith, to a gun show, to a Canadian port of entry as we discussed earlier, and to a peace officer or a chief firearms officer, either for verification, registration, or for disposal.

[The Chair, Conservative, Daryl Kramp]

Very briefly, Mr. Leef.

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

How much time do I have left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Daryl Kramp]

You have about a half a minute.

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

I don't have a lot of time. I want to thank you for those points of clarification. I hope as we move forward that both the NDP and the Liberals will be more genuine in their commentary on this bill based on the clarifications and information you've provided. I think Canadians deserve an honest discussion about this piece of legislation. They don't deserve to have the fearmongering tactics that have been so widely distributed by the Liberal Party. Certainly, I hope that the Liberals don't continue this misleading brand of fundraising activities they have been doing.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Daryl Kramp]

Thank you very much, Mr. Leef.

We will now go to Madame Doré Lefebvre.

[Rosane Doré Lefebvre, NDP, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That is very kind.

A lot of topics were covered in the questions asked by my colleagues. I think that we all have a slightly different vision of how the population in general should be protected. I detest bringing in dichotomy here. In my opinion, we should include everyone in the consultation process on firearms safety and we should try to not make it a political issue.

I find it a bit sad that the debate addressed a firearms registry that no longer exists, and in my opinion, we should really concentrate on the provisions of the Firearms Act. I think parliamentarians should be very cautious about any eventual amendments to the Firearms Act, and their priority objective should be improving the safety of the public in general. Unfortunately, certain provisions of the bill do not necessarily meet that criterion. Consequently, I have a little trouble getting perspective on all of this.

I would like to broach in more detail an issue that was raised here by several of my colleagues as well as by the Minister of Public Safety in his presentation. That concerns the illegal arms traffic. I did not quite understand everything that was said. In my opinion, the details were not sufficient to allow us to understand that situation well.

The minister talked about the elimination of red tape in connection with firearms and of the fact that this will help to counter the illegal arms traffic. I find it hard to understand how the fact of eliminating red tape will help to diminish firearms traffic.

Mr. Murdock, could you enlighten me on that?

[Lyndon Murdock]

Bill C-42 would provide an explicit authority for the CBSA to share the information that it has with the RCMP's Canadian firearms program. If I may, to provide a little bit of clarity, I'll walk through the system as it exists now, and how it would be under Bill C-42. Just to be clear, this deals only with businesses and businesses that are importing restricted and prohibited firearms.

Right now, businesses importing restricted prohibited firearms have to provide information to the customs officer at the port of entry. That information includes information regarding their licence and it also includes some brief description regarding the firearms that are being brought in. There is a requirement in law that restricted and prohibited firearms be registered. They don't have to be registered at the time of importation. Businesses have a period of approximately 30 days following importation, during which they can register their firearms.

There was a study conducted in the province of British Columbia, in 2008, I believe, which looked over a two-year period at a phenomenon whereby firearms being imported by businesses—again restricted prohibited firearms—were being diverted to the illicit market because the RCMP had no ability to ensure that what was presented at the time of importation, for example, 100 firearms, was actually registered at a later period of time. The RCMP could not then ensure that what had been being brought in was actually registered and meeting the legal requirements.

With Bill C-42 there will be a new form created, an RCMP form that has to be provided by the importer to the RCMP registrar in advance. It will list specific information regarding the firearms being brought in. When the businesses are importing, they will also have to provide a copy of that form, previously provided to the RCMP, to the customs officer. The officer will be able to look at and identify possible discrepancies between information provided to the RCMP and the CBSA at the time of importation. If there is possible diversion, law enforcement will be notified, and CBSA will have the authority to provide that information to the RCMP for appropriate follow-up as required.

[The Chair, Conservative, Daryl Kramp]

Thank you very much.

Madame Doré Lefebvre, your time is now complete.

On behalf of the entire committee, I would like to thank our witnesses here today: Ms. Besner, Ms. Thompson, and Mr. Murdock. Thank you for your attendance.

The meeting is adjourned.