Public Safety committee  Well, I won't need a minute. If it walks like a registry, talks like a registry, and even seems to quack like a registry, it's a registry.

Public Safety committee  I would.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  They are.

Public Safety committee  One of our most fundamental principles is that the police authority is subservient to the political authority. It's not for the purpose, obviously, of individual investigations or prosecutions but for the purpose of policy. You are here to set the policy—not the RCMP.

Public Safety committee  Let me give you an example of how the RCMP has recently done that. In Canada—

Public Safety committee  In theory, that's exactly how it should work, but in practice, it doesn't work that way. When the RCMP issues a bulletin with their.... Remember, it's nothing more than a legal opinion at this point. With their legal opinion, it has the force of law. In other words, individuals a

Public Safety committee  I'll say two things about the grandfathering provisions. Number one, just grandfathering a firearm doesn't save what is ultimately a stripping of property rights from individuals. It renders the firearm non-transferable and essentially worthless. Particularly and often, many of

Public Safety committee  Yes, but this puts the cart before the horse. It allows for the classification decision to go first in the hands of the RCMP. The very best Parliament can do under Bill C-71 is not declare it non-restrictive, not disagree with it, but give you permission to continue to be a crimi

Public Safety committee  Let me give you an analogy to that. This is not about the RCMP giving advice to cabinet. That's wonderful and that's exactly the way responsible government works. This is akin to allowing the Department of Justice to pronounce on the guilt or innocence of an individual. That's n

Public Safety committee  Yes. That's a really good question. I appreciate that. We look at the system as it exists now. Firearm retailers track their sales. They do that internally. Those records to this day—I've actually seen it in criminal cases—can be the subject of judicial authorization. The police

Public Safety committee  I had a great answer, though.

Public Safety committee  First of all, when you say “hug-a-thug”, those are some of my clients, so let's all—

Public Safety committee  They're alleged thugs, okay? I see a fundamental consistency, actually, between Bill C-71 and Bill C-75. I have to tell you that a lot of defence lawyers were excited when the new government took office, because we were promised—what was that phrase again?—evidence-based decis

Public Safety committee  No. It's as simple as that. I'll tell you why. Let's pick up on the very last thing this committee just heard about: the authorization to transport. Somebody who's in the business of applying for an authorization to transport is licensed, which means that they have been more he