Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice appears to be ending up with egg on her face after a recent announcement that her useless gun registry is doing something about reducing firearms crime in Canada.
A bit of an investigation revealed that she has not even bothered to put into force the part of Bill C-68 that requires guns entering the country to be registered. If the minister believes the registry is so important, why was the entire shipment of World War II army rifles, which she says was a threat to public safety, knowingly waved through Canada customs without even being registered?
The RCMP advised me that Canada customs does not even tell the registrar about the guns coming across the border. The minister's own research shows that between 200,000 and 300,000 firearms enter Canada illegally each year but are never registered because the minister has not put into force legislation passed in 1995.
Everyone should be wondering why the minister waited for a so-called criminal to register a 1,000 World War II rifles destined to collectors if registration is so important for public safety.
The minister cannot change this mountain into a molehill. This is a billion dollar boondoggle.