NEWS RELEASE

March 31, 2004                                                                                               For Immediate Release

1996 REPORT PREDICTED FIREARMS FIASCO – LIBERALS IGNORED WARNINGS

“Every risk they identified came true.  Every plan they implemented to mitigate the risks failed.”

Ottawa – Garry Breitkreuz, Deputy House Leader and Official Opposition Justice Critic for Gun Control, released another 434-pages of documents that predicted in 1996 that the firearms program was an accident waiting to happen.  “How many warnings do these guys need to get before it sinks in?” asked Breitkreuz.  “The Justice Minister’s own bureaucrats warned him the gun registry wouldn’t work in March of 1994.  Now we uncover another report that forecasted big trouble ahead on the firearms file in February of 1996 – two and half years before Bill C-68 came into force and eight years before more than a billion dollars was wasted.  Every taxpayer and every Parliamentarian should be asking why this information was kept secret until today.  The Liberals knew that there was going to be a scandalous waste of money but they went ahead and wasted it anyway.”

The government report Breitkreuz was referring to titled, “Implementation of Bill C-68 – Project Profile and Risk Assessment, February 1, 1996, (Draft #4)” was obtained under the Access to Information Act (ATI).  “The report warned that it was highly probable that the costs would exceed Cabinet-approved estimates; that the timelines were unrealistic; that revenue assumptions would not likely be achieved; that the provincial governments would dissent; that aboriginal communities would not comply; and that the private-sector technological capability wasn’t available.  They even doubted the ability of the Justice Department to manage such a major project,” reported Breitkreuz. 

“As is a normal occurrence with the government’s responses to my gun registry ATI requests, most of the pages were whited-out.  For example, 158 pages of the exempted pages related to the risks associated with the failed EDS Canada $227 million computer system.  Even the type of risk was blanked out.  This is the open and transparent government Paul Martin promised?  It makes us wonder what scandal they are covering up here?” asked Breitkreuz.

“Every risk they identified in 1996 came true.  Every plan they implemented to mitigate the risks failed.  The Liberals repeatedly ignored the risks and taxpayers wound up shelling out more than a billion dollars without achieving the promised improvements in public safety,” commented Breitkreuz.  “The real kicker is that for all those years Finance Minister Paul Martin was writing the cheques for the firearms fiasco.  We repeatedly raised concerns in the House of Commons, but the Liberals went right on pouring good money after bad.  Is there any better way to define fiscal irresponsibility?”

KEY RISKS IDENTIFIED IN FEBRUARY 1996 REPORT

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article321.htm

-30-