Mel Arnold

Madam Speaker, I rise today to present a petition. Lawful firearms owners in Canada continue to be under attack by the Liberal government. At the same time, the Liberal government lets criminals and gangs run free in our streets. The petition is presented on behalf of residents across Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies. Petitioners call on the Government of Canada to end its assault on law-abiding firearms owners by scrapping the massively expensive and ineffective firearms confiscation program and to focus its attention and resources toward criminals and illegal firearms smuggling.

Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary provides us so much fuel for questions for him that I am going to run out of time even explaining some of them in point form. He talked about affordability measures, which we opposed simply because those affordability measures added to the unaffordability crisis that we are in right now. He was first elected in 1988, he stated. He has been with the Liberal government for almost 11 years, and we have seen the cost of its ever-increasing deficits. The Liberals' original prime minister, Trudeau, promised a tiny deficit of I think $15 billion. They have blown through that, year after year after year. Now we have trillions of dollars in debt. The parliamentary secretary talked about building the economy, but we have seen what the Liberals are doing. They are building an economy for Liberal and Brookfield friends. Will he agree and admit that Canada is in an affordability crisis?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute the sockeye that return every fall to the world-famous Adams River, known as the richest 300 acres in the world. This return is the final chapter for thousands of sockeye that hatched in the river four years ago before beginning their epic journeys through the Thompson and Fraser rivers and Pacific Ocean. After swimming thousands of kilometres, the weathered sockeye finally return home to initiate the next generation. In early October, people from the Secwépemc and Shuswap welcome locals and visitors from around the world to witness this extraordinary spectacle of life and death against the backdrop of fall colours. Salute to the Sockeye events run from October 9 through October 25 at the Adams River and include a welcoming ceremony, interpretive and educational displays and scenic walks along the riverbank, where salmon can be seen doing what comes naturally. I encourage everyone to join in the Salute to the Sockeye events in the heart of the riding of Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies and to witness the beauty of the salmon, the people and the scenery.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his speech and actually admitting in his words that we are in “a bit of a challenging time for our country.” His terminology for this may be a little bit off when we have seniors having to live in their vehicles because they cannot afford rent. We have record numbers of working people and young families relying on food banks just so that they can survive because of the ever-increasing cost of living over the last 10-plus years. I would like to ask the member if he would like to clarify for this House, and for Canadians, which government has been in power for the last 10, now almost 11 years, I guess, and is responsible for this challenging time, as he put it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present two more petitions. These two are on the Liberals' failing firearms confiscation program. With nearly a $1-billion price tag, barely a third of that program is going to actually compensate firearms owners, while the rest will go into bureaucracy. Therefore, the undersigned citizens and permanent residents of Canada call upon the Government of Canada to end its assault on law-abiding firearms owners by scrapping the massively expensive and ineffective firearms confiscation program, and focus its attention on resources toward criminals and illegal firearms smuggling.