Mr. Speaker, that was a very interesting little spiel from the hon. member. I am sure he has been taking lessons from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He said that the bill was about crime control. That is a myth that I cannot believe they believe. It has nothing to do with crime control.
Law-abiding citizens are not the problem. Criminals are the problem. By definition criminals break the law. Why does the government think a registration program law-abiding citizens have to comply with will solve crimes?
Can we imagine the bank robber on his way to the bank saying “Gee, we had better not rob the bank today because I haven't registered this rifle?” When was the last time somebody robbed a bank with a rifle?
Crime control, give me a break. If the member wants to talk about what we are doing today then at least he should make some sensible remarks.
The hon. member said that the chiefs of police were against us. I acknowledge that. Politically appointed chiefs of police are onside with the government that appoints people. What a surprise. I do not know if it was intentional or not, but he was wrong when he said that police associations were in favour of it. They are not. The Regina police refused to support the RCMP in a request to register firearms. The Canadian Police Association that covers police from one end of the country to the other, frontline police who do the work, is opposed to the legislation.
He talked about my constituents. I surveyed my constituents with a question that firearms owners challenged me on. They asked why I was being so neutral, why I was not being stronger and more supportive in the way I asked questions. I told them it had to be an absolutely neutral, fair question which we had designed for us. I got the biggest response on that survey of any householder survey I have ever sent out.