Mr. Speaker, I did do a lot of research on the bill. There are many cases across Canada of theft of firefighting equipment or damage to it. In fact, less than two weeks ago I had fire chiefs from New Brunswick in my office. They were here on their lobby day on the Hill. We discussed their concerns about legislation and so on. When they had finished their portion, they added that my bill was perfect timing. They had a fire truck stolen in New Brunswick last week. They did manage to recover the truck, but the jaws of life were missing. These instances are happening all over the place.
When I was home in my riding last week, I met with firefighters on their Tuesday night practice night, which is common right across Canada. Tuesday night is volunteer firefighter practice night. When I was speaking with them, many of the members from my riding had actually been up to the Cariboo—Prince George riding on structural protection units. They were speaking of cases where the fire chief actually had to take the fire truck from the hall to his house at night to ensure it was not damaged or equipment was stolen. He could not even leave it locked in the fire hall because of the risk of theft.
This happens right across the country. It is not just an isolated incident. It is a greater threat than what we saw in B.C. this summer.