"McLellan must have lost her calculator when she said user fees would cover the entire cost."

Yorkton - Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Firearms Critic, released results of another Access to Information (ATI) Request demonstrating the Department of Justice is clearly misleading the public about the true costs of the new registration scheme for all rifles and shotguns. The response to the ATI Request stated, "As of May 31^st, 1999, revenues received by the Receiver General in respect of fees imposed under the Firearms Act totalled $2,941,311."

In a letter to the editor published in the Toronto Star on July 19, 1999, Justice Minister Anne McLellan stated, "user fees will cover the entire cost of the program." In response to a previous ATI Request received by Breitkreuz on June 14^th, budget documents showed that the gun registry cost taxpayers a total of $215,915,611 between April 1, 1995 and March 31, 1999. "User fees came up $213 million short of covering the entire cost," commented Breitkreuz. "The Justice Minister must have lost her calculator when she wrote that letter to the editor."

In the same letter to the editor the Justice Minister said, "Operating the system will cost between $50 and $60 million annually." Breitkreuz stated, "Add these annual expenditures to the $216 million spent so far and the Liberal’s gun registration scheme will cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars by the year 2015. Why is the Minister continuing to mislead Parliament, the police and the Canadian people?" asked Breitkreuz.

On June 21^st, Breitkreuz revealed that 172 pages of budget documents related to the firearms registry were being hidden from him using "Cabinet confidences" as the excuse. "There has been no progress in my complaint to the Information Commissioner and the government still hasn’t issued this year’s budget for the firearms registry," reported Breitkreuz. "If they’ve got nothing to hide, why is the Minister using Cabinet secrecy to hide this year’s budget? When will the Canadian people get the truth about this fiscal fiasco?"

-30-

Yorkton Office: (306) 782-3309

Ottawa Office: (613) 992-4394