Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the hon. member which I would like to preface.
I would like to ask the member whether he really believes that this piece legislation, formerly known as Bill C-68, is more about taxation than gun control. I would ask the member to share his thoughts with respect to whether he thinks that registering the long rifles of innocent deer hunters, duck hunters and farmers will have any effect on deterring the criminal use of firearms. I think ultimately it will not and the excessive registration costs which are rumoured to be in the area of $300 million to as high as $1 billion are far too excessive for our law-abiding citizens.
If we really want to deter the criminal use of firearms in this country, I would ask the hon. member to answer the question of whether this $60 million to be utilized on an annual basis would be better used to put more police on the street, to actually seriously fight crime in a real way.
I also have a more specific question for the NDP in general. In 1993 the NDP called for a national gun registry, yet during the last parliament the majority of the NDP caucus opposed Bill C-68.
In 1997 in the riding of Kings—Hants the candidate actually painted himself as being anti Bill C-68 while the member for Halifax and the NDP leader painted themselves as pro Bill C-68. Where is the position of the NDP with respect to Bill C-68?