Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak again to Bill C-68 and the proposed amendment.
An item of the bill that I really feel needs to be addressed is the issue of non-compliance. Many citizens of Canada would be put in a position of being criminals if they did not register their
guns. I hope as we review the bill that we will not allow this to fall into the Criminal Code with regard to registration.
I have some very serious reservations about the search and seizure provision. It needs to be looked at thoroughly. Can it be put in another framework in the bill? If the police want to enter on to one's property, then a search warrant should be obtained. That document would identify the reasons why a search is deemed necessary.
I have some concerns about heirlooms, those items that may be passed on from generation to generation. We have to make sure that we clear up in the minds of the people writing the bill what constitutes an heirloom. Do citizens have a right to pass them down through the family from generation to generation?
I really feel very strongly about collectors and museum pieces. If expensive museum pieces have been collected and retained in families, and they are going to be removed through confiscation, then fair compensation should be paid.
I have a tremendous problem with the five year and $60 fee licensing provision. I would rather see a licensing provision of $5 a year and $25 for five years. That way we can at least indicate to the public that it is not a tax grab.
As I have said before and I reiterate, I am prepared to register my firearms. I believe many people are. However, I would much prefer to see voluntary registration with a five-year lead-in period. At the end of the first year of the registration period we should evaluate whether it is doing what we wish it to do, that it is efficient, affordable and enforceable for everyone involved.
I have some difficulty with the taxpayers of Canada paying approximately $85 million, as suggested, to go through the business of registering firearms. I am not so sure that at the end of the day we will be able to show that the criteria are met.
The committee was completely unified in its position that it would go with voluntary registration with a five-year lead-in period. I would like to think we could go back and look at that one again.
Everyone in the House supports the minister wholeheartedly in those aspects of the bill that deal with the criminal element. We support wholeheartedly the four-year mandatory sentence for the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime. I would rather see a two-year mandatory sentence for the use of a fake firearm in the commission of a crime. I could support that.
With regard to the bill overall, I feel this is the place to voice my concerns. I say today and I will continue to say that as the present bill is put forward, I am not prepared to support it.