NEWS RELEASE
GUN REGISTRY TO REACH A BILLION DOLLARS – A YEAR AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
“But
newly released numbers still don’t include ‘major additional costs’
identified by the Auditor General.”
Yorkton – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition
Critic for Firearms and Property Rights, added up the newly released numbers in
the government’s documents and to no one’s surprise, the gun registry will
cost taxpayers $941.9 million by the end of March 2004. “Finally the government is admitting they spent more money
than the Auditor General documented. Now
we’re being told the billion dollars will be reached a year ahead of schedule.
How can we believe anything they say if they can’t even forecast their
costs one year ahead?” exclaimed Breitkreuz.
Last December, the Auditor General reported: “The
Department of Justice estimated that by 2004-2005 it would spend at least $1
billion on the Program.” The
Justice Minister’s October 31st, 2003, Performance Report to
Parliament on the firearms program documented an additional $47.2 million
dollars in “indirect costs” that had never previously been properly
reported to Parliament, plus $766.6 in “direct costs” for a “TOTAL
PROGRAM COST” of $813.8 million at the fiscal year end of March 31, 2003.
The Minister’s Main Estimates documents for 2003-2004 show the gun
registry will cost $128.1 million – $113.1
million in “Planned Expenditures” and additional contingency of $15
million for Alternative Service Delivery (privatization of the program).
“This is $33 million more than the Minister forecasted for 2003-2004 in
his report to Parliament on April 24, 2002,” revealed Breitkreuz.
“The
$941.9 million tally still doesn’t include ‘major additional costs’ identified
by the Auditor General,” stated Breitkreuz. “The
Library of Parliament released three studies in 2003 that show that complying
with this useless gun law has already cost gun owners between $367 and
$764 million, and that enforcement costs will rack up at least another
billion dollars. Nor do government cost estimates include economic costs documented in a
115-page report that has been declared a Cabinet secret or the cost of
administration in other departments who use firearms on a regular basis like the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Environment Canada and the Canadian Wildlife
Service. We will be filing more
access requests to get this information,” promised Breitkreuz.
After nearly a year of asking, the government still
hasn’t answered our questions: How much will the gun registry cost to fully
implement and how much will it cost to maintain?
Did no one ever report this fiscal fiasco to former Finance Minister Paul
Martin? Didn’t he have an
obligation to find out?” asked Breitkreuz.
GOVERNMENT’S NEWEST INCOMPLETE FORECASTS
SHOW GUN REGISTRY WILL COST MORE THAN $1.4 BILLION BEFORE IT IS FULLY
IMPLEMENTED (I.E. REACHES“STEADY STATE”)
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article200.htm
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