Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. Yorkton-Melville

News Release

For Immediate Delivery

July 27, 1998

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIREARM REGULATIONS FAIL TREASURY BOARD POLICIES

"Vital information about costs and benefits has been intentionally withheld from the public."

Yorkton – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, made public a research paper which documents serious deficiencies in the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statements (RIAS) prepared by the Department of Justice and published in the Canada Gazette in April 1998 and December 1997. "These deficiencies and omissions clearly contravene the principles and policies in Treasury Board Regulatory Policy – November 1995, the Citizens’ Code of Regulatory Fairness–1986, and the recommendations made by the Auditor General of Canada in his 1989 Report on the Federal Regulatory Review Process," revealed Breitkreuz. "This is the only way the public has of determining the costs and benefits of the proposed regulations. The Department of Justice has failed their own government’s policies and intentionally withheld vital information from the public."

Treasury Board policies clearly state that, "When regulating, regulatory authorities must ensure that benefits outweigh the costs to Canadians, their governments and businesses" and "the limited resources available to government are used where they will do the most good."

Breitkreuz’ research paper documents more than 50 deficiencies or omissions in the Department of Justice Firearms Act regulations including:

• No estimates of the number of individuals to be licenced or the cost to issue a licence
• No estimate of the number of firearms to be registered or the cost to register a firearm
• No estimate of the cost to individuals, the cost to businesses, and the cost to the economy
• No estimate of the number of business closures and jobs losses
• No identification of winners and losers, as recommended by the Auditor General of Canada
• No assessment of the benefits these firearms regulations will have on improving public safety

"Even a cursory review by an average citizen, let alone a responsible bureaucrat, will quickly identify the serious deficiencies and omissions in these legal documents. When is the Justice Department going to tell taxpayers what gun registration will cost – after they’ve spent one or two billion dollars? When are they going to give Canadians the facts so they can see for themselves that the benefits of registering 18 or 20 million guns is not the best alternative for improving public safety?" asked Breitkreuz.

"I have asked the President of the Treasury Board to ensure complete compliance with Treasury Board policies. The Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations has been asked to ensure that vital information withheld from the public by the Department of Justice is published in the Canada Gazette. It is absolutely crucial that corrective action be taken before the Firearms Act regulations come into force on October 1, 1998," concluded Breitkreuz.

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For more information please contact
The Office of GarryBreitkreuz, M.P.

Yorkton: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394