It's certainly an improvement over the previous system that was in place, which was weakened under the past government. Unfortunately, I think the comparisons that we find most important are those comparing what was previously in place in Canada or what is currently in place in the United States. Commercial sales records are the law in the U.S., so now at least we're in line with American law in terms of controls on sales.
However, we're a little worried about the access to this data. The minister has talked about judicial authority. We're not sure that this judicial authority was required in the past, and we want to make sure that police and government officials have easy access and quick access to this data.
In terms of supporting police work, it is much weaker than what was in place in terms of sales when the registry was in place. Under that system, all the data was centralized. If the Mayor of Toronto asked.... The minister talked about considering the possibility of being able to flag arsenals, people who buy many, many guns. It's just not possible when the records are kept in the stores. You can't see a pattern when the data is hidden in all the stores. In any case, where would you start looking? Why would you start looking?
The bill falls short of what it could have been and what it was in the past.