Garry Breitkreuz

[Assisted Human Reproduction Act, January 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, your ruling has put us in a predicament as has already been described. Quite a number of motions have been put forward. According to your ruling, we do not at this point know if we are going to be addressing these more than once and whether there will be an opportunity to address them at length. We do not know whether the 10 minutes that we are allotted now to speak to this will occur again. I need some clarification from the Chair as to whether we will have another opportunity to speak to some of the other motions if the Speaker so rules.

Is our speaking time used up now? Will we have an opportunity to speak to the many other motions that are still coming? That is the predicament we are in, in addition to what has just been described.

[Question No. 89, January 27th, 2003]

With respect to the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada for 2002, in the current and past years: ( a ) how many illicit firearms have organized crime groups stolen or obtained by other means from the police and the military; and ( b ) how many legally registered firearms have organized crime groups accessed because they have breached the Restricted Weapon Registration System and/or the Canadian Firearms Registry?

[Question No. 88, January 27th, 2003]

With respect to statements made by David Austin, a spokesman for the Canadian Firearms Centre, quoted in the November 17, 2002, edition of the Calgary Sun, what evidence does the government have to show that “the new law is working well to reduce crime, safeguard citizens from shooting deaths and help law enforcement keep track of arms movement.”?

[Question No. 50, January 27th, 2003]

With respect to the Department of Justice 2002-2003 Estimates, Part III--Reports on Plans and Priorities, Firearms Control Program, Long-Term Benefits, what are the “Measures of success” for the: ( a ) number of suspended/refused licences; ( b ) percentage of firearms owners complying with registration; ( c ) ease of registration process; ( d ) number of registered firearms; ( e ) percentage of public support for the program; and ( f ) documented reduction in the number of firearm accidents (long-term result)?

[Question No. 49, January 27th, 2003]

With respect to statements made by the Minister of Justice in the House of Commons on February 16, 1995 (Hansard, pp. 9707-9709), how has universal gun registration: ( a ) reduced the number of deaths due to domestic violence; ( b ) reduced the number of suicides; ( c ) reduced the number of firearms accidents; ( d ) reduced the number of guns smuggled into Canada; ( e ) reduced the number of guns stolen; ( f ) reduced the number of guns traded on the black market; ( g ) reduced the number of legally imported guns that are sold illegally; ( h ) reduced the illegal acquisition and smuggling of ammunition; ( i ) improved compliance with safe storage laws; ( j ) increased the number of firearms seized as a result of enforcement of firearms prohibition orders; ( k ) improved the likelihood that the police will know where all the guns are; ( l ) affected the percentage of police who are in favour of universal firearms registration; ( m ) improved the accuracy of statistics regarding the number of guns and gun owners; and ( n ) been justified by the costs when compared to the benefits?

[Firearms Registry, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, any competent minister would know what his department is spending on each of its programs.

On December 12 the minister said this about the funding of the firearms program, “I will report back to the House with an accounting of how we manage any shortfalls. I will be open. I will be transparent”.

He has had six more weeks since I asked him the question which I just asked again. Is the minister ready to be transparent with Parliament? How much is the gun registry going to cost to fully implement and how much will it cost to maintain?

[Firearms Registry, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on January 10 the Auditor General sent me a letter saying that the Department of Justice estimates that the gun registry will not be fully implemented for three or four years.

How much is it going to cost to fully implement the gun registry and how much is it going to cost to maintain it each year after that?

[Firearms Registry, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Parliament is still being kept in the dark. The minister could not make it work when he spent $1 billion. Logic tells anyone that it will not work when it is funded at minimum levels.

Today the justice minister once again refused to extend the gun registration deadline and as a consequence will criminalize one million law-abiding Canadians. The Auditor General reports a 90% error rate in the registry. Only one-third of the guns are registered. Gun owners cannot register their guns even if they want to.

One more time, Mr. Speaker, will he please tell us how much it will cost to complete and how much will it cost to maintain?

[Firearms Registry, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, rhetoric does not save lives.

This morning the justice minister in his statement said he will pull money out of other programs to fund the gun registry. Parliament demonstrated its lack of confidence in the registry by removing $72 million from the scheme last week. Now the minister will be using sleight of hand to keep it on life support.

What programs will he take the money from to fund the registry?

[Firearms Program, December 12th, 2002]

It is already happening.