Mr. Speaker, last week, the media reported that Environment Canada bureaucrats were seeking bids for a contract worth up to $60,000 to study the use of lead bullets and shot and their impact on the forest floor. What an absurd waste of taxpayer dollars. In fact, I rather suspect this study would have turned out to be a pretext for imposing additional needless restrictions on law-abiding hunters and sports shooters.
Fortunately, we have a Conservative government and a Conservative Prime Minister. We acted. The Minister of the Environment cancelled this tender as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
As Conservatives, we believe that hunting, angling, and trapping are central to the livelihood, recreation and tradition of many Canadians.
Unlike the Liberals and the New Democrats, who probably support this tender and would recreate the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry, our Conservative government will always defend the right of Canadians to hunt and fish.