Thank you, Chair.
I find this addition, this amendment, absolutely frustrating and infuriating. As a hunter, I sometimes wait eight to 10 years for the privilege of being able to pursue a hunt in my home province. I would be outraged if, through no fault of my own, the Government of Canada did not renew my possession and acquisition licence on time, and I drove 200 or 300 miles to a hunt that I payed $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 for, just to find out that my magazine is faulty and I cannot go to the store and purchase a replacement one because of a clause like this.
The governing body that determines when an applicant gets their licence renewed is the one that bears the responsibility. The reason the extension of six months was added on was that governments typically can't meet the obligation of getting a firearms licence renewal processed in a timely fashion, even according to what the firearms centre says it does on its website.
I deal with this in my office constantly. The number of people in this country who follow the guidelines on the website, do a renewal, and do not get their licences returned in time, who are now going to be.... It's punitive, absolutely punitive, to somebody who acts in good faith, not only in the acquisition of their licence but in the acquisition of their hunting permit and the purchase of a hunt.
I'm asking the officials. If this clause becomes law, what we are saying, in essence, is that unless your.... You have to wait. It doesn't matter; the hunt will not wait for you. The season in the province or territory in which you are hunting will not wait for you. You might even only have a season of a week. As a matter of fact, in January of this year, I had a three-day elk hunt that I waited 10 years for. Ten years I waited for that opportunity, and if I would have lost the magazine for my Savage rifle, if this clause had been law and I had been by myself. Because my PAL was in the six-month grace period, I would not have been allowed to go to the store and get a replacement magazine.
Is that correct?