Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine for her question.
Briefly, I would like to say that those ideologically opposed remained opposed, naturally. But before this scandal and before the Auditor General pointed a finger at the Liberal government's incompetence, they were preaching in the desert so to speak. It had gone under the radar. Nobody was really talking about it. Yes, there was discontent in certain quarters. However, overall, it was relatively well accepted in Canadian society as a whole, despite some resistance.
What the Liberal government has achieved through its incompetence is get it splashed over the front pages of the newspapers again. The ideological opponents took that opportunity to say, “See, we were right. It makes no sense. Not only does this program make no sense, but any form of gun control management is bound to result in this kind of overspending”. That is precisely what I criticize the federal government for.
They could have gone on being opposed and preaching in the desert, but this scandal and the government's incompetence have provided them with a wonderful forum to attack the principle of gun control.