"Liberals used the Access to Information Act to blank-out all dollar amounts on their proposed budget."

Breitkreuz has asked Information Commissioner John Reid to investigate. "In June the Department of Justice used ‘Cabinet confidences’ to hide 172 pages of budget documents from the public and now this. At this rate, we may have the actual expenditures for this fiscal year before we learn what they proposed," said Breitkreuz. "I asked the Information Commissioner to please put an end to this ‘culture of secrecy’ concerning the cost of the government’s gun registration scheme."

"It is vital for government to hide the true costs in order to maintain the charade that the public supports their gun registration program," stated Breitkreuz. To prove this point, he referred to polling information published by the Mackenzie Institute in January of 1997, "Canadian Attitudes Toward Gun Control: The Real Story." When respondents were asked: "Do you agree or disagree that all firearms should be registered?" 75.7% Agreed Strongly. When respondents were asked: "If it would cost $500 million over the next five years to set up and maintain a firearms registry, would you still agree?" Only 32.4% Agreed Strongly.

"We have been able to document that the Liberals have spent more than $300 million on their flawed registration scheme since 1995 – a far cry from their original estimate of $85 million over five years. The public has a right to know the truth. It’s time for full disclosure so the Canadian people can make intelligent choices about more cost-effective alternatives for combating the criminal use of firearms," concluded Breitkreuz.

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