Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was saying that the government action plan is best characterized by fence-straddling. It reflects in part the position of citizens requesting gun control and gives in to the pro-gun lobby by postponing indefinitely the universal registration of firearms.
The minister has no intention of seeing universal registration implemented during his mandate. He expresses concern for the number of victims of homicides by gun, but tables no bill and puts off until 2001 the requirement for gun owners to obtain firearms certificates. They will have until the next millennium to comply with the minister's action plan.
As for firearms registration per se, owners are given until 2003 to register their firearms. How can the Minister of Justice think that he can be taken seriously when he says that the time has come to act and, in the same breath, tells us that weapons currently in circulation will not have to be registered for nearly ten years?
On the subject of penalties, the government action plan proposes a number of improvements regarding maximum sentences for crimes involving the use of a firearm. The list of offenses, however, includes neither assault with a weapon nor confinement.
The Minister of Justice also promised us tough measures on the smuggling and importation of firearms. Strangely enough, his action plan suggests stiffer penalties for owners of hunting rifles without registration cards than for those who import or own smuggled weapons.
While the hunter will be liable to a minimum sentence of one year in prison for a second offence, the smuggler may not even have to go to jail. Today, the minister tried to cover all bases of gun control, except perhaps when it comes to issuing registration cards for cannons, without biting into any of the real issues.
The Liberal government's lack of action does not take into account the realities faced by gun owners. In this regard, the regulations already in effect are inconsistent and difficult to enforce, even by police officers, who often are not familiar with them. On November 15, the minister replied to me in this House, and I quote: "We will make every effort to simplify (the regulations)". This does not seem to be among his priorities today.
Nowhere in the paper tabled by the Minister of Justice do we see an attempt at regulatory reform. The minister has failed to ensure that the existing regulations, particularly on the display, storage and transportation of firearms, are consistent and easy to enforce. These regulations are not published in an equitable manner. For example, the Minister of Justice is currently distributing among police forces throughout Canada an information booklet with different French- and English-language versions. It is this booklet I am talking about.
The inconsistency can be found in the chapter on the transportation of restricted weapons. Francophone and anglophone readers do not have to transport the weapon in the same way to conform to the regulations. In fact, the English-language version specifies that restricted weapons must be locked and stored individually, while the French-language version stipulates that these weapons only have to be stored individually. Does the minister promise to withdraw this misleading booklet from circulation?
The Minister of Justice is quite aware of the investigation conducted this month in Montreal by coroner Anne-Marie David. For his information, some 20 witnesses representing various organizations told coroner David how inconsistent and confusing these regulations are. Their lack of clarity leaves room for interpretation and its attendant dangers. In addition to promising new measures attempting to plug all the holes, he should have revised the faulty regulations already in effect.