Scrapping the long-gun registry and all of its records could turn a $2-billion waste into a "$2-billion bonfire," a New Democratic Party MP from Quebec says.
Appearing on CTV's Question Period, Gatineau MP Francoise Boivin maintained the government should let the provinces take over the gun registry data.
"We're afraid on the NDP side that the $2-billion boondoggle from the Liberals could become the $2-billion bonfire of the Conservatives," she said.
But Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety, said the federal government will not hand over to the provinces any of the data, despite the recent urging of Quebec Premier Jean Charest that they do so.
"Our plan is to ban the long-gun registry," she said. "And the long-gun registry isn't just an idea about registering long guns in the future, the long-gun registry is the data."
Hoeppner said destroying the registry's database is essential because "we believe much of the data is flawed and much of the information is incorrect."
She also added that it is not necessary for the government to keep information regarding law-abiding Canadians, in this case the long-gun owners.
When asked if the NDP would restore the long-gun registry if it ever formed a government, Boivin declined to be specific.
"We'll see in four years what we do," she said. "But we definitely want to keep the data."
