44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 5, 2022 11:00AM
Mr. Speaker, when I was younger and studying at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, I had the opportunity to visit the Saguenay's magnificent parks and to share with my friends the love of nature and hunting. I was also able to enjoy the famous Lac-Saint-Jean tourtière, which is made with seven types of game meat.
Today, as the MP for a riding where hunting is also a popular activity, I want to express my appreciation to hunters who practise this sport responsibly. Quebec sport hunting associations and gun clubs have worked with police forces, community groups and all levels of government to improve this activity and make it safer. Real hunters do not need military-style weapons to practise this sport.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has launched the largest attack on law-abiding hunters in Canadian history. The government's proposed amendments to Bill C-21 would effectively ban hundreds of thousands of firearms used for hunting.
Hunting is a Canadian tradition. It is a way of life for millions of rural, remote and indigenous Canadians. However, the Liberal government has attacked these Canadians since it took office. Its own minister, who is supposed to stand up for rural Canada, is in favour of this attack on hunters. That is no way to stand up for rural Canada.
Yesterday, deer hunting season closed for most hunters in Manitoba. Unfortunately, these hunters do not know if they will be using their hunting rifles next year.
My message to the out-of-touch Liberal government is this: Hunters are not the problem, so just leave them alone.
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Mr. Speaker, not only is Christmas dinner going to be especially expensive if people buy it at the grocery store, but now the government wants to ban people in rural country sides from actually hunting for their turkey. It has targeted a long list of hunting rifles and shotguns with a sweeping ban that is being widely condemned by experts, by hunters and by first nations people.
The government has admitted in recent testimony that the ban will apply to hunting rifles contrary to prior talking points. Will it reverse this ban?
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Mr. Speaker, of course, we are all in solidarity in ending the violence committed with guns. In fact, today we saw an example of the real problem. Police seized 62 firearms in Toronto and 57 of them came from the United States of America. Only one of them was from Ontario and it was stolen over a year ago.
The problem is not hunters in Wainwright, Alberta or in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on the east coast, who are using their tools to feed their families. The problem is the illegal guns coming across the border.
Why will the government not reinforce our border instead of attacking our hunters?
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Mr. Speaker, the results of the Liberals' policy are a 32% increase in violent crime and a massive 92% increase in gang murders. No matter how expensive their policies are and no matter how much they target law-abiding hunters, it is not getting the job done to protect our people.
Why does the government not want to help fight actual crime instead of targeting our hunters and farmers?
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Mr. Speaker, since the Liberals took office, violent crime has risen by 32% and gang-related murders are up 92%.
The Liberals are not addressing the real problem. They should have done something about the illegal gun trafficking at the border a long time ago. Instead, with the support of the Bloc Québécois, the Liberals want to prevent hundreds of thousands of Quebec hunters from participating in an ancestral tradition. The government needs to stop treating hunters like criminals.
When will the government punish the real criminals once and for all?
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Mr. Speaker, the government has been very clear from the beginning. We are not targeting hunters. We are targeting criminals. We are targeting the assault weapons that were used in our country's greatest shooting tragedies.
Bill C-21 targets the criminal element with harsher sentences and with investments for the CBSA.
The Conservatives do not support this bill, which is a very bad thing. They need to change their position.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals continue to deny they are going after Canadian hunters with their latest gun ban, but the ban list is out and hunters across the country have seen many of their commonly used firearms on that list. Hunters from Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, the north and our indigenous hunters are all speaking out. Even legendary Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price is speaking out. The CBC, in fact, just today, said the list includes a number of long guns in wide use by Canadian farmers.
Why will the Liberals not just admit this was never about public safety and that it was their target all along to go after law-abiding hunters, sport shooters and farmers? This was their plan all along.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister has it all wrong. Everything he just said is contradicted by the actual text of the bill, the text that we understand, that Liberal backbenchers understand and that their constituents understand. Just because he says it is so does not make it so.
The Liberals' entire philosophy and approach to crime is flawed. The evidence is in. Since they took office, violent crime is up 32% and gang-related homicides are up 90%, yet their plan to combat these things is to go after law-abiding hunters. They need to get their priorities straight, go after the gangsters and leave hunters alone.
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Mr. Speaker, I am one of those hunters, and I know I can speak for all the hunters in this room when I say that we cannot stand it when we see a firearm used, as we heard earlier about Polytechnique, to take other innocent lives.
I would hope we all want to work together to make this bill the best it can be. The terrible misuse of information out there has to stop.
I am also going to tell members that I challenge anyone to please reach out with a specific make and model. The devil is in the details. The weapons on that list are not—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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