GUN REGISTRY
PROMISES: WHY SHOULD ANYONE
By Garry
Breitkreuz, MP – December 7, 2004
Who can believe a word Liberals
say when they talk about the gun registry?
First, they promised Parliament that they would implement the gun
registry for $85 million over five years and that the net cost would be
only $2.2 million. And
remember when Justice Minister Anne McLellan wrote to the Toronto Star on
July 19, 2001, saying that "user
fees will cover the entire cost of the program”? We all know what a best-selling piece of fiction that was.
So who does Prime Minister Martin
put back in charge of the firearms fiasco?
Anne McLellan of course, the Minister responsible for making most
of the mistakes and for wasting most of a billion tax dollars.
On November 24th, Public Safety
Minister Anne McLellan testified before the Standing Committee on Justice
that the Firearms Centre’s budget for next year would only be $85
million. Oh my, I wonder
where they come up with that number?
Taxpayers will want to know: Why is today’s forecast any more
believable than their 1995 forecast or their 2001 forecast?
The Liberals’ most recent
guesstimate has pegged the total cost of the firearms program at
$1,055,400,000 as of March 31, 2005.
But the Liberals have failed to comply with all of the
recommendations in the Auditor General’s December 2002 exposé on the
program. She told the
government to
provide Parliament with estimates of the cost of enforcement and the cost
of compliance as required by Treasury Board Regulatory Policy. According to reports prepared by the Library of Parliament
Research Branch, enforcement and compliance estimates add hundreds of
millions to the costs of the program.
Add to this the fact that the government’s own reports on the
economic cost and the cost-benefit analysis have both been declared
Cabinet secrets. Liberals are
still keeping Parliament and the public in the dark.
We have to ask ourselves: did we
get any value for our money? We
don’t think so. Two million completely innocent, federally-licenced
gun owners have to report their change of address within 30 days or they
could go to jail for up to two years.
Guess who doesn’t have to report their change in address to
police? One hundred and
seventy-six thousand convicted criminals that have been prohibited from
owning firearms by the courts. Last
week, Commissioner of Firearms, Bill Baker,
admitted under our questioning that these proven-to-be-dangerous persons
are “no longer effectively covered by the Firearms
Act.” As I asked the
Minister, “Where’s the logic in that?”