Five Million Guns Not Verified

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, this week the RCMP sent me documents that show five million guns in the billion dollar registry still have not been verified; that is most of the guns. This has become one of the most expensive garbage collection systems in the country.

I remind the justice minister that accuracy was one of the conditions of support for the Canadian Police Association. Would the minister tell Parliament how much it will cost to go back and verify these five million firearms? Will this be the second billion that will be flushed?

Hon. Wayne Easter (Solicitor General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I really believe it is time that this member turn the page and start to work with Canadians so that we have a safe and secure society.

The Minister of Justice has indicated that he will accept the recommendations of the Auditor General. There comes a time to move on and maybe it would be better for society if that member, instead of undermining the system constantly, tried to work with us to improve it.

Mr. Darrel Stinson (Okanagan—Shuswap, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, the firearms program involves the use of highly sensitive personal information, yet the privacy commissioner states that bags containing personal information collected by the gun registry were found in a dumpster. These documents originated with a private company, BDP, hired by the government.

When the system is breached by police personnel they are either charged, fired or disciplined in some way. Therefore what is this justice minister going to do to BDP for breaching our privacy rights?

Hon. Wayne Easter (Solicitor General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the concerns expressed by the privacy commissioner. When the privacy commissioner raises some concerns, we constantly try to accommodate those concerns and work with them. That is what we are doing in this case.

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