STATEMENT
BY GARRY BREITKREUZ ON FIREARM REGISTRY REPORTS
OTTAWA – Canadian Alliance Firearms Critic Garry Breitkreuz made the
following statement today in the House of Commons in response to Justice
Minister Martin Cauchon’s tabling of the KPMG and Hession reports on the
Firearm Registration boondoggle
“Mr. Speaker, while none of us
have had a chance to read these two consultants’ reports, they seem to
indicate an attempt to whitewash a billion-dollar boondoggle and absolve the
Minister and his senior bureaucrats for their incompetence. All the Minister confirms today is that they really did waste
a billion dollars.
“On January 8th, the Minister’s news release stated the
review by KPMG was: “… to verify the adequacy and appropriate application
of the CFC’s financial systems and controls. This will also assist in confirming
the validity of the Program’s financial statements.”
“Today, the Minister reports that KPMG found exactly what
he told them to find.
“With respect to Mr. Hession’s report, the Minister says
Parliament now has to wait another few weeks while the Minister prepares an
“Action Plan”. Why does
Parliament have to wait a few more weeks? Have
the Minister’s bureaucrats been doing absolutely nothing for the last several
months?
“The Minister tabled Estimates in March last year saying
everything in the gun registry was fine – give us $113.5 million?
Why didn’t he know the program was in trouble then?
“The Minister tables Supplementary Estimates in October
saying everything in the gun registry was fine – give us another $72 million.
Why didn’t he know the program was in trouble then?
“The Minister had the Auditor General’s report for weeks
before it was released on December 3rd. Why did he wait for the media to make a big story out of it
before he acted? Why did he wait
for 8 provinces and 3 territories to demand a review of the program before he
acted?
“The Minister demands that Parliament pass Bill C-10A and
that these two-year-old amendments are needed to fix the problem when even his
own User Group on Firearms admit they fall far short of fixing the myriad of
problems in the gun registry. If
Parliament is going to amend the Firearms Act, let’s do it all at once.
“Finally, the two reports the Minister tabled today still keep
Parliament in the dark. They
don’t say how long it’s going to take to fully implement the registry or how
much it’s going to cost! Worst of
all, Parliament and the public will have to wait years before the Auditor
General confirms that the program is totally ineffective at controlling the
criminal use of firearms. This is
no longer a gun control issue – this is a government-out-of-control issue!”
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