Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.
Yorkton-Melville		 News Release

For Immediate Delivery

June 10, 1999

HALF THE PROVINCES WITH MORE THAN 57% OF THE PEOPLE NOW OPPOSE GUN REGISTRY

"Defeat of New Brunswick Liberals could be an omen for their federal cousins in the next election."

Ottawa – Today in Parliament, Saskatchewan MP, Garry Breitkreuz, Firearms Critic for the Official Opposition, had to once again point out the obvious to the Minister of Justice. Breitkreuz was commenting on the fact that the newly elected New Brunswick government has promised to join the other provinces and territories in challenging the federal government’s gun registration laws. "Taxpayers are paying hundreds of millions for the mistakes the government made in their pursuit of the Liberal Party’s political priorities instead of the public’s criminal justice priorities," stated Breitkreuz.

Here’s the statement Breitkreuz made in the House of Commons:

Congratulations to Bernard Lord for bringing about the spectacular end to the Liberal’s 12-year reign in New Brunswick. Part of the Conservative Party’s election platform included the promise to "join the other provinces in the court challenge of the federal gun control law." This despite the fact that it could mean the end to two or three hundred federal jobs at the Canadian Firearms Centre in Miramichi.

Mr. Speaker, New Brunswick joins the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the three territories in their opposition to the Liberal government’s gun registration scheme because it intrudes on their exclusive jurisdiction over "property and civil rights" granted them in the Constitution. That’s half the provinces and more than 57% of the population. When will this democratic reality finally hit home? What will it take for the government to realize that they made a grave mistake by ramming Bill C-68, the Firearms Act, through Parliament in 1995 without proper consultation with the provinces?

 

"It’s pretty amazing. The PC’s even won the riding of Miramichi where the Canadian Firearms Centre and the two to three hundred federal jobs are located. New Brunswick voters sent the provincial Liberals a very clear message. Will this message from the grassroots zip over the heads of their federal cousins like it usually does? If it does, it could mean just as big a surprize for the Liberal Party of Canada in the next federal election," concluded Breitkreuz.

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For more information, please call:

Yorkton Office: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa Office: (613) 992-4394
e-mail: breitg0@parl.gc.ca