Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to join the proceedings virtually to seek clarification from the Liberal government on the response from the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to my question regarding the government's firearms buyback program. Unfortunately, when asking this minister a question, one almost never gets an answer or gets an answer to a completely different question.
Contrary to what the Liberals like to claim, many of the firearms that were banned were rifles and shotguns that are used around farms for predators and pest control, for putting food on the table through hunting or for legitimate sport shooting activities. I have heard from many Canadians whose favourite grouse gun or target-shooting rifle has been banned. These Canadians feel demonized and stigmatized by the Liberals for having the audacity to lawfully acquire a firearm and safely operate it in the first place.
When this ban was first announced, I asked the minister for clarity about the fate of the Nine O'Clock Gun. Manufactured in 1816, it is a 12-pound muzzle-loaded naval cannon in Vancouver's Stanley Park that clearly fits this minister's gun ban. He was so confused by his own regulations that he seemed to think I was talking about a modern-day grenade launcher. It is clear this minister is shockingly out of touch with which firearms actually pose a problem to public safety. We know that these are not the firearms that are being used in gang shootings and organized crime.
Law-abiding firearms owners are among the most heavily scrutinized and vetted Canadians in our country. If people are licensed firearms owners, their names are checked daily against the criminal record database to ensure they have not committed a crime, but that does not seem to matter to the Liberal government because its crusade against hunters, farmers and sport shooters is driven by ideology and not a desire to increase public safety.
If the Liberals were actually interested in public safety, they would not be eliminating minimum penalties for several serious firearms offences. They would not be passing legislation to ensure that actual criminals spend the least amount of time in jail possible, even if they are repeat offenders. Instead, they are focusing on taking firearms from people who embrace the outdoor way of life to provide for their families or who enjoy sport shooting. It is far easier for the Liberals to go after law-abiding citizens who pose no threat and already go above and beyond to follow the law than it is to go after hardened criminals who are actually terrorizing Canadian communities.
The Liberals like to say they are strengthening gun control, but that is simply not true. If they were actually strengthening gun control measures, there would be a public safety objective they would be trying to achieve. Instead, they are simply trying to score cheap political points. They are going to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on a firearms ban and seizure that will do nothing to reduce violent crime. The real objective of the government is to have a flashy fundraising email that the Liberal Party headquarters can put out in an attempt to fill its coffers for the election it so obviously and desperately wants.
Meanwhile, as the Liberals count the dollars rolling in after misinforming their donors, Canadians will not be any safer. In fact, they will almost certainly be worse off, because all of the money wasted by the Liberal plan could have been allocated to programs that would help reduce crime, like social diversion programs, addictions treatment and greater resources for front-line officers and border agents.
Given how long the minister wore a gun on his hip, one might think he would know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys. Why does he not?