Thanks, Chair.
Thanks for allowing me to participate today in this important discussion. It really should be centred around public safety and making Canada a safer place versus, in my opinion, measures and in particular the amendment that has been table-dropped at the last moment for Bill C-21. It was focused on a handgun freeze but has now turned into a bill focused on arguably the most law-abiding demographic in Canada.
In fact, the statistics show that firearms owners are three times less likely to commit a crime than the average Canadian. In particular, I am here to defend people from my riding of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound. This is a huge issue in my neck of the woods. My own brothers and friends of mine, not many of whom, as far as I know, have had a speeding ticket in their life, harvested three deer during hunting season, just a few weeks ago. Every single one of them will be impacted by this ban because they all own hunting rifles that are semi-automatic with detachable magazines.
I'm here speaking not just on their behalf but also on behalf of the constituents of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound. I've had so many law enforcement officers reach out to me and critique this bill. The fact is, they do not believe that anything within Bill C-21, especially with the amendment, is going to actually reduce gun crime and gun violence in this country. It's focused on the wrong aspects.
I'm also hearing from veterans and even current members of the Canadian Armed Forces who feel the same way. I would challenge every member, as I have done in previous interjections, to talk to some of the PPS workers who protect us so well and keep us secure here in Parliament. They feel the same way, so this isn't just me.
I will offer a point of appreciation. I think we need to have a discussion around proper definitions and around the classification of firearms. For decades, the gun community has been calling for a complete review, a proper review with all proper consultation.
We heard Minister Mendicino speak during a media scrum just a couple of days ago, and he said he's been consulting with everybody. I'm going to get to that, because to me we should be basing every discussion and every decision around firearms in this country on data and evidence, not political science. It has to be based on the facts.
There is something else I'd like to point out. My predecessor, the Honourable Larry Miller, former member of Parliament for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound for 15 years, actually tried to solve some of this. In the 42nd Parliament, he introduced Bill C-230, an act to amend the Criminal Code (firearm—definition of variant), to try to get some clarity around this. Unfortunately, it did not get past second reading. With the exception of one Liberal MP, the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc all voted it down. It didn't even get a chance to be studied at committee and get through. Again, for decades we've been calling for the proper classification of firearms, so we're going to get into that here, right now.
I've been asking questions literally since a few months after being elected in 2019, at that time to then minister Blair and since then to Minister Mendicino. I have submitted written questions to try to get some clarity on the data, especially around the clause that speaks about military-style assault rifles.
For the record—and I think everybody in this room knows—I spent 25 and a half years in the Canadian Armed Forces as an infantry officer. I have carried fully automatic firearms and handguns pretty much my whole career. I slept with a fully automatic firearm as a pillow—fully loaded with a 30-round magazine on it and a round up the spout—in Afghanistan, and the gun never went off. Guns do not kill people. People kill people, not the firearms themselves.
I have a question for the officials here. I asked a question shortly after the OIC came out—which is what this amendment is now adding to legislation—on the firearms that were banned, the over 1,500 models. At that time, I asked specifically what the formal technical definition of an assault-style firearm was and when the government had first used it.
They referred to—and I just want to verify this—the consultation process and the report that was provided to the government. Was that the Hill+Knowlton Strategies report “Reducing Violent Crime: A Dialogue on Handguns and Assault-Style Firearms”? Is that the report being referred to?