Madam Speaker, I fully understand my colleague's concerns. Every time we hear the word “registry” now, it reminds us automatically of the firearms registry, which proved to be a very trying experience. There were huge cost overruns. The government lost control of the system that it put in place.
However, if we look at the principle, the Firearms Control Act is a an excellent piece of legislation. Because of the way it was drafted from beginning to end, it became a bureaucratic monument, and the consequences of that in terms of information technology requirements and follow-up went way beyond what had been envisaged.
Our responsibility with regard to this new piece of legislation is to ensure that the cost of the registry that will be put in place is minimal, reasonable and acceptable. That requires a close and rigorous follow-up.
I think the sunset clause, under which this act as a whole will have to be reviewed in three years, serves as a watchdog with regard to the registry. Should there be unacceptable cost overruns, we could, after a year, raise this issue in the House in question period or in committee, or do it by using other parliamentary tools at our disposal or through the media that could have some concerns about that.
Basically, after three years we will be in a position to evaluate the situation since we will know how much the registry costs. In fact, there should also be a similar clause in the other bill so we can stay in control. With the inclusion of that provision, the committee agreed that such an amendment would be appropriate to allow us to keep an eye on the bill.
Clearly this is a case of “once bitten, twice shy”. We had a terribly bad experience with the gun registry. I sincerely hope that the system we put in place is more foolproof and that we do not see the things we saw with the other registry. That kind of thing happens more often in the areas under government's general responsibility. The lobbyists legislation, the Technology Partnerships program and the sponsorship program are good illustrations of that.
We see a lack of administrative and political discipline behind all of this government's actions in all kind of areas. Like my colleague, I think that we must make sure that the bill is sufficiently foolproof. We see that people often find ways to bend legislation and rules. However, we are responsible for making sure that that bill is sufficiently watertight to avoid that.
I hope that the solution we came up with in the bill will be generally accepted and will give good results. In concluding, I will say that three years from now we will have the opportunity to replace it with more efficient legislation, if necessary, hoping that not too much money has been wasted in the meantime.