GUN REGISTRY EMPLOYS 1800 AND
HAS ALREADY WASTED HALF A BILLION DOLLARS
Breitkreuz
raises concerns with Auditor General of Canada before another half billion is
wasted.
Ottawa:
Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released a package that
included the following information:
(1)
A response to an Access to Information request from the Department of Justice
with a spreadsheet outlining the net expenditures of more that $487 million for
the Canadian Firearms Program from 1995 to 2001.
(2)
A letter to the Auditor General asking for her to investigate the discrepancy
between the Dept. of Justice spreadsheet and expenditures made public in the
Supplementary Estimates and Governor General Special Warrants.
(3)
A letter to the Auditor General asking her to investigate discoveries made by
the Information Commissioner regarding the manner in which spending on the
firearms program are allocated by Treasury Board.
(4)
A response to an Access to Information request from the Department of Justice
showing staffing levels of 1800 employees working on the firearms program.
ATI
RESPONSE # 1 - Department of Justice Access to Information Request
File: A-2001-0138/et - Dated: August 30, 2001: CANADIAN FIREARMS PROGRAM - NET
EXPENDITURES BY FISCAL YEAR
1995-96
TO 2000-2001 = $487,185,570
NOTE:
See attached spreadsheet for details.
CONCERNS RAISED WITH AUDITOR GENERAL OF CANADA BY
GARRY BREITKREUZ, MP
FIRST
LETTER TO AUDITOR GENERAL - Reference
is being made to your letter dated August 28, 2001.
Please find attached the most recent spreadsheet received from the
Department of Justice in response to one of my Access to Information Requests (ATIP
File: A01-0138/ok). This final spreadsheet identifies Total Spending on the
Canadian Firearms Program for 2000/01 of $200,394,023 less revenues of
$34,969,459 for Total Net Expenditures of $165,424,564.
These
total expenditure figures are very confusing because they do not fully account
for the $206,281,919 allocated to the Canadian Firearms Program in 2000/01 in
the Governor General Special Warrants and in the Supplementary Estimates (A) and
(B). See notes below for additional
details:
(1)
STATEMENT ON GOVERNOR GENERAL SPECIAL WARRANTS - For the Fiscal Year Ending,
March 31, 2001 - Firearms Control Program = $96,148,000 [Page 72]
Note:
Released by the Government on February 2, 2001
(2)
SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES (A), 2000-2001 - For the Fiscal Year Ending, March 31,
2001- Firearms Control Program TOTAL: = $49,831,000 [Page 114]
Note:
Released by the Government on March 1, 2001
(3)
TREASURY BOARD RESPONSE TO ATI REQUEST 2000-0304-A-LM – Department of Justice
Summary – SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES “B” – Firearms – Including Transfer
from NPB = $60,302,919
Note:
Access to Information response dated May 25, 2001.
Could
it be that some of the money allocated to the firearms program was actually
spent by other departments as you alluded to in your June 1st letter?
In your efforts to ensure parliamentarians receive adequate information
on the cost of the registration process, would it be possible for you to get an
explanation of the discrepancy between the funds allocated in these public
documents and the total expenditures reported for the year 2000-2001?
It would also be very helpful for Parliamentarians to know what the
original budget allocation was for the Canadian Firearms Program in 2000-2001.
SECOND
LETTER TO AUDITOR GENERAL - Reference
is being made to your letter dated August 28, 2001.
Please find attached a copy of a letter we have received from Mr. John
Reid, Information Commissioner of Canada dated August 29, 2001.
During his investigation of our complaint, Mr. Reid uncovered some
disturbing facts regarding the funding of the Canadian Firearms Program by the
Department of Justice:
(1)
That there was “no proposed budget allocation has ever been produced” for
the program for fiscal year 2000-2001
(2)
That “a fixed amount every year” was budgeted for the program based on a
determination that was made “prior to the establishment of the CFC in 1998.”
(3)
That “When additional funding is required a supplementary TB submission is
generated, sometimes as early as June or July of a given year.”
Is
this any way to run a government program? How
can Parliamentarians, the media or the public know what is going on if this is
the way the Department of Justice “manages” public monies?
Thanks again for agreeing to get to the bottom of this mess.
ATI
RESPONSE #2 - Department of Justice Access to Information Request
File: A-2001-0130 / ms - Dated: August 20, 2001
ADVICE
TO THE MINISTER - 2001-04-12
STAFFING LEVELS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FIREARMS PROGRAM
There
are currently just over 1,800 employees associated with the firearms
program, counting the processing sites, the regions and all partners
including the Registrar and CCRA [Canada Customs and Revenue Agency].
Over two-thirds are temporary (term and casual) employees.
There
are currently some 460 employees at the Central Processing Site in Miramichi
NB, about 430 of them employed by HRDC and the rest by Justice.
The workforce of term employees was increased temporarily due to the
high workload surrounding the Dec. 31, 2000 licencing deadline so that the
final figure deployed to Justice from HRDC mid-May will be about 300, 90% of
them temporary (casuals or students).
Earlier
this year, approximately 135 RCMP employees were deployed to the Department
of Justice in North West Region covering Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta,
Yukon, Nunavut and the North West Territories.
These employees are involved in the administration of the Firearms
Program in the northwest opt-out jurisdictions.
They include firearms officers, administrative support, operators,
clerks and exceptions handling personnel
The
Canadian Firearms Centre office in Ottawa has a staff of about 186, half of
them temporary.
There
are about 680 involved in regional operations other than those of the
Northwest Region, over two thirds temporary (terms or contractors).
RCMP
operations in Ottawa, which houses the offices of the Registrar, has about
400 employees, almost two-thirds of them temporary.
The
Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) has a full-time staff of 18 on
the firearms file.
In
addition, 155 are on contract in Ottawa for the development of IT systems.
-30-
Please see the accompanying spreadsheet on the expenditures of the CFC.