Justice Minister Joins Prime Minister in Deceiving Canadians

NEWS RELEASE

January 6, 1997 For Immediate Release

JUSTICE MINISTER JOINS PRIME MINISTER IN DECEIVING CANADIANS

"Liberal laws and lies are destroying the trust between the people and their government."

Yorkton - Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released disappointing news about the Department of Justice. A federal public servant wrote a very revealing letter to the Auditor General for Canada. His letter was both a comprehensive statistical analysis and a scathing critique of a government gun control evaluation report, "A Statistical Analysis of the Impacts of the 1977 Firearms Control Legislation"(ED1996-1e).

"This dedicated public servant sent me a copy of his letter and asked me to help expose the government's attempts to mislead the public," said Breitkreuz. The public servant wrote to the Auditor General saying, "I have no confidence in the Department of Justice addressing my concerns in an honest and forthright manner. As an employee in a government research facility, I find it impossible to believe that this paper would be accepted as written nor can I believe that a reputable consulting company would have written it in such a slanted and biased fashion. When our legal agencies cease to be seen as honest and enforcing a common law, it becomes extremely difficult to force otherwise honest citizens to obey laws which they consider unnecessary and deceitful." Breitkreuz added, "If public servants don't even trust their colleagues in other departments, think how bad it must be for the average citizen. It's clear that the Department of Justice's own evaluators have been forced to become spin doctors for their political masters."

"The way Allan Rock and now his officials have mishandled this evaluation over the last year and a half demonstrates a frightening pattern in the way the Liberal government operates: hide it, ignore it, twist it. It's one thing for Allan Rock to spin a story and warp statistics to try and prove his personal philosophical preferences but for the Justice Department to be party to this deception is appalling," said Breitkreuz. "The evidence we have amassed in this case proves that Allan Rock is a desperate man grasping at straws." Breitkreuz concluded, "Sooner or later Allan Rock will have to face voters in his own Town Hall just like the Prime Minister did. The questions will not be easy for him to answer."

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The following information is available by calling our office:

(1) A copy of the public servant's letter to the Auditor General

(2) A copy of the Information Commissioner's investigation

(3) A chronology of events regarding this case

Yorkton: (306) 782-3309

Ottawa: (613) 992-4394

CHRONOLOGY OF REQUEST FOR PRAIRIE RESEARCH EVALUATION

by Garry Breitkreuz, MP (Yorkton-Melville) - January 7, 1997

Note:This chronology outlines the steps taken by to ensure that an evaluation paid for with public funds was made available to the public. The original purpose of this evaluation commissioned by the Justice Department was to determine the effectiveness of gun control laws passed in 1977 and 1991.

Aug 1, 1995Prairie Research and Associates completes evaluation

Dec 4, 1995Initial request for information sent to Library of Parliament

Dec 14, 1995Access to Information Request sent to Department of Justice

Jan 15, 1996Received 9 pages of 2,010 pages of documents.

Jan 26, 1996Complaint filed with Information Commissioner

May 29, 1996Received 943 pages of the 2,001 pages of documents remaining

[18 pages only partially released citing Section 14(a) of Information Act]

[ 5 pages only partially released citing Section 21(1)(b)] of Information Act]

Oct 1, 1996Received another 937 pages of documents from Department of Justice including most of the pages partially exempted in May 29, 1996.

Oct 11, 1996Department of Justice released an evaluation document, "A Statistical Analysis of the Impacts of the 1977 Firearms Control Legislation" (ED1996-1e) July, 1996.

Oct 22, 1996Follow-up request to Information Commissioner for missing 139 pages and 7 partial pages.

Nov 26, 1996Information Commissioner, John Grace issues his four page report of his department's investigation which concluded, "The investigation has convinced me that there was no evidence to support withholding any of records concerning the evaluation of gun control legislation under section 22 or any other provisions of the Access to Information Act."

Dec 6, 1996Complaint registered with the Auditor General for Canada requesting him to examine evidence documenting the biased evaluation prepared by the Department of Justice.

Dec 31, 1996Final instalment of 139 pages and 7 partial pages received from the Department of Justice as the Information Commissioner promised.

QUESTIONS ALLAN ROCK WILL HAVE TO ANSWER

1.Why did Allan Rock try to keep the Prairie Research evaluation secret since August 1, 1995?

2.Why did Allan Rock deny Access to Information requests for the evaluation since December 1995?

3.Why did Allan Rock refuse to release the data even after the Information Commissioner informed him that he had no legal authority to withhold the information?

4.Why did Allan Rock have his officials issue a biased evaluation by arriving at conclusions not supported by the data?