Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the opportunity. There are individuals and hunting groups throughout Canada. I was actually in Saskatchewan on the weekend speaking to anglers and hunters. Police officers have come forward. Police chiefs like Rick Hanson of the Calgary Police Service, one of the biggest cities in Canada, stood with us and stood against the long gun registry.

Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, that is an important question. All of us are very concerned with suicide rates in Canada. We want to do everything we can to reduce suicide. However, we heard at committee that organizations that work to prevent suicide have absolutely no access to the registry at all.

Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to be the final Conservative member of Parliament to speak in favour of ending the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry. I am also very pleased to work on behalf of law-abiding firearms owners in this country who use firearms for legitimate purposes.

Firearms Registry  Mr. Speaker, it may be Valentine's Day, but the NDP really has gone too far with its hug-a-thug ways. It has no problem standing up for criminals while at the same time punishing law-abiding farmers, hunters and rural Canadians in every region of the country who use firearms for legitimate purposes.

Flooding in Montérégie  Mr. Speaker, our hearts go out to the victims of flooding throughout Canada, not only in Quebec but in my home province of Manitoba, in my home riding in Manitoba. Our government is supporting victims of flooding through several programs. We have also committed to helping the provinces with mitigation efforts.

Mental Health  Mr. Speaker, today, I encourage all Canadians to support mental health. At least one in five Canadians will suffer from mental illness in their lifetime. Unfortunately, the reality is that most will not seek treatment because of the stigma surrounding the disease. There is so much that we can do to support those with mental illness so that they do not have to struggle alone.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, I was at every committee meeting when we looked at drugs and alcohol in prisons. We are just finishing that report right now. My hon. colleague will enjoy looking at the report. I think she will see some very positive things that came out of that because our government has invested unprecedented amounts of money into mental health, mental illness and specifically programs in prison to deal with drugs and alcohol.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, I need to correct a couple of things that the hon. member said in regard to Commissioner Head who just appeared at our committee and praised this government for the funds that we had invested, which was his terminology, in our prison system, specifically to address the issue of drugs and alcohol addiction in prison.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Madam Speaker, my question has to do with violence against women. I agree with my colleague that the best thing we can do is to ensure people who are unstable do not get guns and do not have access to them. The licensing process can help with that. It is not a perfect system, but it can help red flag individuals who should not own a firearm.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleague. First, although we are on different sides on this issue, I appreciate that she has been able to address this and we have been able to disagree in a very respectful way. She was at the committee meetings when front-line officers appeared and told us over and over again that they did not use the registry and, as some of them put it, it actually became a danger to police officers who put any kind of faith in the very flawed data.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, it almost seems like the Liberals are negating the whole process of licensing. Although it is not a perfect system, it is a very good system to red flag people who may be in danger of hurting individuals and should never have a gun. That is what we on this side believe is effective gun control, not perfect gun control but effective gun control.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I find the member's comments quite interesting. The member has a habit of assigning a nickname to just about everyone in the House. I think the flipper dipper might be appropriate for that one. He very obviously told his constituents time after time that he would vote to end the long gun registry.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I was part of the committee hearings on this bill, as was the hon. member who just delivered his remarks. One of the things I found quite disturbing was the fact that over and over the opposition did more talking and perpetuated myths and half-truths in regard to the long gun registry, than listening to witnesses, especially front-line police officers.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police  Mr. Speaker, Canadians are extremely proud of the RCMP and the police forces across Canada. That is why they gave Conservatives a strong mandate last May. We are the only party that consistently invests in front-line police officers. We have taken decisive actions to support the work of the RCMP and to ensure that it has the tools it needs to do its jobs.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police  Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by saying how much our government respects and honours the RCMP and the work that it does, as do all Canadians. We are very proud of the work that the RCMP does. In fact, there are few symbols that are more recognizable and intrinsic to Canadian identity than the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.