A new RCMP report on the Canadian Firearms Program contains no evidence on the effectiveness of the long-gun registry, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says.

Rifles in an Ottawa hunting store: Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says an RCMP report on the long-gun registry doesn't change the government's plan to end the program. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)The report, released this week by Toews to MPs on the House public safety committee, concludes the firearms program is cost effective, efficient and an important tool for law enforcement and public safety, while also calling the firearms registration component "a critical component."

But Toews said the report dealt with Canada's overall gun-control program, including the licensing of firearms.

"What I heard from that report is that there's certainly no conclusive evidence one way or the other about the effectiveness of the long-gun registry," Toews told reporters on Wednesday in Halifax after a speech on border security.

The Opposition Liberals said they will do a cross-Canada tour to defend the long-gun registry ahead of MPs voting on Conservative backbencher Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to scrap it.

Toews siding against police: Ignatieff

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said the Mounties performed a "careful, thoughtful study" on the registry's effectiveness that shows Canada needs it to maintain public safety.

Ignatieff also slammed Toews and the Conservatives for going against the recommendations of the RCMP and Canada's police chiefs.

"We've got the big law-and-order megaphone Vic Toews on one side, and we've got the police forces of Canada on the other," he told reporters at the end of the Liberal summer caucus retreat in Baddeck, N.S.

"Which do you choose? I go with the police forces every day, and that's what we hope Canadians will do as well."

Ignatieff again hit out at NDP Leader Jack Layton for allowing his MPs a free vote on Hoeppner's bill, saying that a vote for scrapping the registry was a "betrayal of the values" of the party.

Toews said the government is still committed to ending the "wasteful" registry so it can focus resources on catching criminals, instead of "criminalizing ordinary men and women in Canada."

The minister cited Auditor General Sheila Fraser's 2006 report, which concluded the registry does not collect data that shows it is effective in preventing gun violence and increasing public safety.

"Our government has been very clear, we are supportive of licensing the registration of prohibited and restricted firearms. We believe that there is justification for that, " he said.

"But as the auditor-general said in her own review of the long-gun registry, there is no evidence to indicate that it is effective."

The House of Commons is set to vote on Sept. 22 on the public safety committee's motion to scrap Hoeppner's bill.