Mr. Speaker, I myself am a firearm owner as well as a big-game hunter. I mention this because, unfortunately, there are still a few men who wonder what my involvement is in the debate on this issue, and I have been involved for a number of years. When I sat on the special committee on firearms in 1990, I was the only committee member with a FAC, or firearm acquisition certificate.
My first question to the minister is this: Why does the government let those opposed to gun control spread all sorts of falsehoods?
Yesterday, for instance, I tuned in to an open-line program on an English-language station. The caller was saying “This means I will have to pay $10 per firearm every year; it is going to cost me $60 a year for a permit.” As you and I know, this is absolutely false. Once the firearms are registered, that is for life. As for the permit, it is good for five years. Why are all these falsehoods still being spread?
My second question to the minister concerns the $350 million tab we are hearing about. I would like to know, first of all, if we will indeed have to pay such a tab and, second, how it got to be so high. If this is not true, I think that a public denial is in order.
I would like the minister to clarify this for us today.