Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the witnesses who aren't here in person today. I'd like to thank the RCMP commissioner, Ms. Lucki, who often takes the time to join us. We greatly appreciate it.
When we have the opportunity to meet with a minister, we like to ask questions.
Minister Mendicino, I want to discuss the handgun ban. During the election campaign, your government, in order to evade responsibility for having said that the provinces would be in charge of this issue, decided to provide one billion dollars to address it. Some suggested that perhaps the billion dollars was for the gun buyback program. The parliamentary budget officer said that the buyback program could cost as much as $756 million, which leaves little money for the handgun ban.
I'm curious about where that billion dollars is coming from. Can you break down the different budgets and tell us where the money will be allocated?