Mr. Speaker, it is not often in the House that one sees the NDP agree with the Canadian Alliance positions, so those are moments which we treasure and savour. On this issue related to the Liberal gun registry disaster, the Liberal member talked about polls.
I think the question that was not asked of citizens was, “Do you support a gun registry system which is proven not to work and which the Auditor General has said is a billion dollar disaster?” If Canadians were asked that question, the response would be overwhelming. Canadians do not support the misuse of their hard earned tax dollars. Canadians do not support legislation which does not work. If that had been the question, we would have seen resounding public support for the Canadian Alliance position and the NDP position.
I also agree with my NDP friend when he talks about the inappropriateness of an unelected body, the Senate, having control over legislation that affects the lives of people. People who control legislation, who are responsible for legislation, need to be accountable. Again, this is no reflection on the people themselves, but the role of a senator does not include accountability to the electorate. That is why it is deficient and needs to be reformed.
We support firearms safety and we support the fact that arms are controlled by the fact that people have to have a certificate to purchase a firearm. However we do not support this billion dollar disaster.
One of the distinctions with the Canadian Alliance position is that we support more police officers on the street. Does the NDP position also accommodate the Alliance position which is that there should be an increase in severity of sentencing for those who commit crimes with firearms?