Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the speech of my colleague from Cypress Hills—Grasslands. I must, by the way, congratulate him for speaking in French. I think it shows much progress and I congratulate him.
It was interesting, because he spoke at length about Quebec. I represent a riding in that province. I have lived there for many years and should therefore know what is going on.
According to an Angus Reid poll done in May 1995, 79% of Quebeckers supported Bill C-68. Quebec's own Minister of Justice at the time, Paul Bégin, officially backed the bill. A few months earlier, in November 1994, a Gallup poll had revealed that nine out of ten Quebeckers, or 90% of Quebec's population, were in favour of registering all firearms.
This has been a fact of life in Quebec since 1972, because provincial legislation requires that all firearms be registered anyway.
Bill C-68 is a bill of which we on the government side are very proud. It represents the view of the vast majority of Canadians. It is a bill that was democratically and legitimately passed in this Parliament by a government majority. Today, the bill is law in Canada. To reopen this debate, as the Reform Party wants to do today, in league with the National Firearms Association, brings to mind what is going on in the United States.
The right wing and the extreme right wing have been sleeping with the National Rifle Association for ever and a day. No matter what the congress of the United States wants to do to express the desire of what has been seen in poll after poll, the majority view of the great number of Americans that want some control over firearms, the right wing has managed in the United States to defeat it because of the tremendous lobbying power of the National Rifle Association.
Thank the Lord here we will not be cowed if it is 2,000, 5,000 or 20,000. They do not represent 30 million Canadians. We do and we feel we do it well. We have been elected by a majority of Canadians to express their views. Their views on gun control legislation have been extremely clear. In fact the police chiefs across the land have pointed out as shown in a study published by the Ottawa
Citizen
on August 28, 1997 that 52% of guns found at crime scenes in Canada are shotguns or rifles.
I know registration is not very pleasant. We have to register our boats. I register my boat every year. It is something I would like to avoid if I could but I do it. If they made a law tomorrow to make licensing of people handling motorboats compulsory, I would be for it. It would be an inconvenience but if it can save people from getting hurt or from being killed then it is certainly a step forward despite the inconvenience. I register my car every year and it is not pleasant. I have to send a cheque to get the sticker. We all do. The difference between cars, boats and guns is that guns maim and kill. The experience in Canada is that guns kill a lot of people, as they do everywhere in the world.
If registration can save 100 lives, only 100 lives, if it can save 20 lives, if it can save just one life, then it is justified.
I cannot believe what I hear. It is always the cost. How much it will cost the government and the taxpayer to register a gun. But it is never the cost of a life lost. How much is the price of a life lost? If registration was just to avoid the killing of one life, then registration would be worth it. We should not be quarrelling about the price, whether it is $50 million, $60 million or $100 million.
I sincerely thank the member for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, who focussed on the broad issue of registering firearms, looking at all the ridiculous arguments that have been raised by opponents of Bill C-68. They said it will cost a fortune, and so forth, when registration will, in fact, be a one-time event, costing only a few dollars annually, just like a driving licence, just like licensing our car or boat costs a few dollars.
What harm is there in that, if registering firearms makes it possible for police forces to identify them more accurately and if it discourages us from using them?
The Reform Party speaks as if we live in a cocoon. I heard them talking about the west against the rest of Canada. Yet there was a poll taken in the riding of the member for Edmonton North which said that 55% favoured registration and 28% were against.
They seem to imply that we are alone in the world. I would like to mention a few figures to them. Licensing is required in Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Great Britain, Japan, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain—