Foreign Affairs committee  Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. In regard to civilian small arms and ammunition, Canada is primarily a nation of importers, not manufacturers. Current import costs of these specific items total some $250 million, as part of an industry generating some $6 billion annually in

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the standing committee, for inviting the Canadian Shooting Sports Association to participate and express the views of our members and other active Canadian firearm owners and users. My name is Steve Torino. I'm the president of th

Foreign Affairs committee  I was part of the delegation. I don't know who invites. Normally I get a phone call or an e-mail from Habib, asking if I'd like to be part of the delegation as an advisor. That's about it. Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing going on there.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of this committee, for inviting me to comment on Bill C-47 , and to answer any questions I can in this regard. I would also like to present some relevant background information that may be pertinent to this bill. I am president of the Canadian

Foreign Affairs committee  My understanding is a request was made, and we ended up with something in the preamble that said “mindful of”. There was nothing in the treaty at all.

Foreign Affairs committee  That was my understanding, but I was not the negotiator. I was simply an adviser. The head of the delegation was Habib Massoud. If you feel up to it, you should contact him and get the details.

Foreign Affairs committee  That was my understanding also.

Foreign Affairs committee  Having been present there until 11 o' clock or 12 o'clock at night and listening to all the negotiations that went on, I think the word “negotiations” enters into it. I'm not really sure of who did what at the end, but in the end, we did not get anything in the actual body of the

Foreign Affairs committee  I think so.

Foreign Affairs committee  I am a firearms dealer, and have been so for years, and that's been well known to both governments.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm a retailer, actually.

Foreign Affairs committee  In terms of the international brokering, when we started to look at this, we realized that just about any company, any organization...Colt Canada I realize is strictly military, non-civilian, but could they be considered to be a broker? There are many elements here when anyone im

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I have tried not to follow this on purpose, because the Canadian Shooting Sports Association is not involved with those organizations. I think that any legal way of protesting is necessary in a free and democratic society such as we have in Canada. When it goes too fa

Foreign Affairs committee  If I may attempt to answer, the issue here is that the Arms Trade Treaty does not include what we call conventional arms as well. It includes small arms and light weapons, and everyone present at the conference, which went on for a very long time, were very clear that civilian fi

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that when Canada is affected by something, they must still be part of the treaty and they must still agree with what's been passed and implemented by the 75% majority. If not, their choice is to get out of the treaty, but up to the date that they get out of the treaty, th