Mr. Speaker, the hon. chairman of the justice committee asked me if we were supporting Bill C-46. I said that bill has some merit and in all likelihood we will be supporting it. Then the member asked me why we did not support Bill C-68. There is quite a contrast in credibility in those two questions.
I want to clearly say to the chairman of the justice committee and all Liberal members that the reason the Reform Party did not support Bill C-68 was it was a completely redundant piece of legislation. It had no value. We are inclined to support bills which have value, but that bill had none.
Members of the Reform Party, I included, stood in the House day after day debating Bill C-68 and we implored the Minister of Justice and all Liberal members to give us one substantive piece of evidence that Bill C-68 would stop the criminal use of firearms and would fight crime in the country. If they had been able to do that, perhaps we might have supported the bill. However, in all the hours of debate on Bill C-68 the Minister of Justice was unable to answer that question. He was unable to provide one shred of evidence that the gun control bill would do any good for the country or would prevent one crime in the country involving a firearm.
Everyone in Canada knows that the reason is law-abiding citizens do not commit crimes with firearms. It is the crooks who commit the crimes. I cannot imagine one crook in this country who gives a darn about the Liberal justice minister's gun control bill.
Therefore he was unable to reply to that question, as he has been unable to reply to many questions. Today the hon. member for Crowfoot asked him some great questions in question period and he was unable to reply.
As we have done so many times in representing the people of Canada, we have asked pertinent questions, meaningful questions on justice issues, on behalf of victims of crime, on behalf of law-abiding citizens, but the Liberal government is lost somewhere in space with the Hale-Bopp comet and is not with it when it comes to justice issues.