Public Safety committee  As I said, I chaired the committee for ministers of justice from 1996 to 2006 for the Liberal government and for the next nine years for the Conservative government. Whether our policies were all accepted or not, our credibility was completely accepted, because we never told any

Public Safety committee  I'll start first. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for inviting us to appear before you today. My name is Steve Torino. I'm president of Canadian Shooting Sports Association. From 1996 to 2006 I chaired the national advisory committee on firearms to the mi

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to reiterate that, in our opinion, Canada's rules and regulations, as I mentioned in the presentation, far exceed those of most other countries. We're at the top of the list. Also, as has been said in this committee before, we've had them fo

Foreign Affairs committee  It would depend on the wording of whatever's being included. If the concerns are not addressed, our members would feel a bit let down, to put it very mildly. They would raise their concerns with the minister's office and with the committee. Other than that, it would depend on wha

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, definitely. There is also, Mr. O'Toole, an automatic firearms country control list, which is even more specific as to which countries are considered acceptable and which countries are not considered acceptable. It definitely goes along with that. Thank you.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  It would depend on the wording of the exclusion and the final version. I'm sure this is going through clause-by-clause consideration, third reading, and so forth, so there are going to be other changes. I think we'd wait and see, but anything that would support what we've present

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

Foreign Affairs committee  I never suggested that. As far as I'm concerned, I think that Canada's going to sign on to the treaty, so I'm just raising the issue here at this point because it is a possible concern for the future. Mr. Farrant raised issues of possible concern for the future. CSSA is doing th

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  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  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  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.