Mr. Speaker, as a member of Parliament for a rural riding in northern Ontario, I am well aware of the great concern being expressed by the legal gun owning community in regions all across Canada.
I have met with over 1,000 constituents on this matter and have received an even greater number of letters and phone calls. We can only conclude from this that we must find the proper balance between rural and urban needs on the issue of crime control through gun control.
I am calling on my colleagues who represent urban ridings to hear the message from rural Canada that the law-abiding gun owning community not be the victims under any new gun laws. Rather, let us become partners in the fight against crime and continue to create together the peaceful and secure country we all want.
I will continue to bring forward the concerns of my constituents. They deserve to be heard.
I trust we can all work together to produce common sense firearms measures so that just maybe we can put this issue to rest once and for all. That is the goal I have set for myself as Algoma's MP.