DATE:
2003.12.21
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
Editorial / Op-ed
PAGE:
A11
BYLINE:
GARRY BREITKREUZ
SOURCE:
Freelance
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gun
registry fails all seven of Martin's tests: Billion-dollar boondoggle.
New
PM signed most of the cheques when he was Liberal finance minister
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since
the Liberals rammed the Firearms Act through Parliament in 1995, Paul Martin as
finance minister has written most of the cheques for this $1-billion boondoggle.
Anne McLellan cashed most of the cheques while she was justice minister. To add
insult to injury, Prime Minister Martin just put McLellan back in charge of the
gun registry.
Now
that Martin has announced a new Expenditure Review Committee, voters will be
wondering what he was doing for the eight years he was finance minister. All
government programs and expenditures will now be subject to seven tests: a
public-interest test, a role-of-government test, a federalism test, a
partnership test, a value-for-money test, an efficiency test and an
affordability test.
What
will Martin do when he learns the Firearms Act and the Canadian Firearms Program
fail all seven of his tests?
Public-interest
test: Failed.
The politically motivated policy objectives of the Firearms Act are wrong
because the Liberal program targeted almost exclusively millions of law-abiding
gun owners instead of violent criminals. The Firearms Act completely ignores the
131,000 convicted criminals who have been prohibited from owning guns by the
courts.
Role-of-government
test: Failed.
Yes, there is a role for the federal government in trying to control the
criminal use of firearms, just as there is a role for the federal government in
trying to control the criminal use of automobiles. This means ensuring all
violent criminals who use weapons in the commission of an offence are thrown in
jail for a long, long time. The Firearms Act fails to address criminal use and
abuse of firearms.
Federalism
test: Failed.
The federal firearm-licensing and registration scheme intrudes into the
exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces. This is why five provinces and three
territories refuse to help the federal government implement and administer the
firearms program and why eight provinces refuse to enforce the act.
Partnership
test: Failed.
Not only did the federal government completely ignore the advice provided by the
provinces and territories in drafting the Firearms Act, it also ignored the
valuable advice of responsible firearms owners and associations everywhere.
Thousands of shooting ranges, gun clubs and wildlife organizations have operated
safely, some since before confederation, but the federal government ignored the
opportunity to co-operate with them to make their sports even safer. Instead,
the Liberals imposed an unworkable regime on them, and used the Criminal Code as
a club to force their compliance. This created an adversarial relationship
between the government and millions of law-abiding gun owners, with the police
in the middle. It's the very antitheses of a partnership.
Value-for-money
test: Failed.
The Liberal government's cost-benefit analysis of the Canadian Firearms Program
is still a cabinet secret, as is their 115-page report on the economic impact
and costs of the program. As of next March 31, the Liberals will have blown $1
billion implementing the Firearms Act. And what ''value'' have taxpayers
received? A list of less than half the guns in Canada; a gun registry that's
riddled with so many errors it can't even be used as evidence in a court of law;
and a list of 2 million licensed firearm owners, most of whom were already
safety tested and licensed by provincial governments.
Efficiency
test: Failed.
The Liberal government's stated objective was to improve public safety and keep
guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. They have achieved
neither. Homicides are up, including domestic homicides, and so is the number of
people committing suicide. The RCMP reports 131,000 convicted criminals have
been prohibited from owning firearms. In fact, the Firearms Act doesn't even
give the police the authority to properly enforce these prohibition orders.
Affordability
test: Failed.
Governing is about setting priorities and spending tax dollars where they're
needed most. While the government wasted $1 billion on the gun registry, police
departments across Canada have been begging for more manpower. Since 1962, the
number of criminal-code offences per officer (excluding traffic offences) has
more than doubled. Instead of an unaffordable and unworkable firearms program,
Canadians could have had many more police patrolling our streets and highways,
or 238 more MRIs in our hospitals.
The
opposition told the Liberals nine years ago the gun registry would cost $1
billion. We told them the Firearms Act was a bad law that needed to be repealed
and replaced. Paul Martin never listened. It remains to be seen if his new
criteria will lead him to a different conclusion today.
Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative Party
member of Parliament for Yorkton-Melville, Sask., is opposition critic for
firearms and property rights.
Since
the Liberals rammed the Firearms Act through Parliament in 1995, Paul
Martin as Finance Minister wrote most of the cheques for this billion-dollar
boondoggle, and Anne McLellan cashed most of the cheques while she was Justice
Minister. To add insult to injury, Prime Minister Martin just put Anne
McLellan back in charge of the gun registry.
This week, Paul Martin
announced his new Expenditure Review Committee.
Voters will be wondering what he was doing for the eight years when he
was Finance Minister. All
government programs and expenditures (including the Canadian Firearms Program
we’re told) will be subject to seven tests: A Public Interest Test, a Role of
Government Test, a Federalism Test, a Partnership Test, a Value for Money Test,
an Efficiency Test and an Affordability Test.
What will Mr. Martin do
when he learns that the Firearms Act and the Canadian Firearms Program
fails all seven of his tests?
Public Interest Test
– Failed: The
politically-motivated policy objectives of the Firearms Act are wrong
because the Liberal program targeted almost exclusively millions of law-abiding
gun owners instead of violent criminals. The Firearms Act completely ignores the 131,000
convicted criminals who have been prohibited from owning guns by the courts; the
9,000 gun owners that have had their firearm licences revoked; and the 36,000
violent individuals on whom restraining orders have been placed.
Role of Government
Test – Failed: Yes, there
is a role for the federal government in trying to control the criminal use of
firearms just like there is a role for the federal government in trying to
control the criminal use of automobiles. This
means ensuring that all violent criminals who use weapons in the commission of
an offence are thrown in jail for a long, long time.
The Firearms Act fails to address criminal use and abuse of
firearms at all – it is focussed entirely on millions of completely innocent
firearm owners.
Federalism Test –
Failed:
The federal firearm licensing and registration scheme intrudes into the
exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces guaranteed them in the Constitution. The federal government abused their criminal law powers when
they passed the Firearms Act in 1995.
This
is why five provinces and three territories refuse to help the federal
government implement and administer the firearms program and why eight provinces
refuse to enforce the Act.
Partnership Test –
Failed: Not only did the
federal government completely ignore the advice provided by the Provinces and
Territories in their drafting of the Firearms Act, they also ignored all
the valuable advice of responsible firearms owners and associations everywhere.
Thousands of shooting ranges, gun clubs and wildlife organizations have
operated safely since before Confederation, but the federal government ignored
the opportunity to work cooperatively with them to make their sports even safer.
Instead, the Liberals imposed an unworkable regime on them and used the Criminal
Code as a club to force their compliance.
This created an adversarial relationship between the government, the
police and millions of law-abiding gun owners – the very antitheses of a
partnership.
Value for Money Test
– Failed:
The Liberal government’s cost-benefit analysis of the Canadian Firearms
Program is still a Cabinet secret as is their 115-page report on the economic
impact and costs of the program. As
of March 31, 2004, the Liberals will have blown a billion dollars implementing
the Firearms Act. According
to a Library of Parliament study, the Act has cost gun owners an additional $367 to $764
million in compliance costs, and the government isn’t even keeping track of
enforcement costs. And, what
“value” have taxpayers received? Nothing
but: (1) a list of less than half the guns in Canada; (2) a gun registry
that’s riddled with so many errors that it can’t even be used as evidence in
a court of law; and (3) a list of two million licensed firearm owners most of
whom were already safety tested and licensed by provincial governments.
Nothing of value here for our billion-dollar Firearms Act.
Efficiency
Test – Failed: The Liberal
government’s stated objective for the Firearms Act was to improve
public safety and keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have
them. They have achieved neither!
Homicides are up, including domestic homicides and so are the number of
people committing suicide. The RCMP
report that 131,000 convicted criminals have been prohibited from owning
firearms. The government admits
that it does not know if police have seized all the firearms from these
criminals or checked to see if they have acquired more guns illegally.
In fact, the Firearms Act doesn’t even give the police the
authority to make such checks. Instead
of demanding that these known criminals report their change of address to
police, the Firearms Act regulations require two million law-abiding gun
owners to report their change of address to police within thirty days or go to
jail for up to two years. No
efficiency here.
Affordability Test –
Failed:
Governing is about setting priorities and spending tax dollars where they
are needed most. While the
government wasted a billion dollars on the gun registry, the police departments
across Canada have been begging for more police officers.
Since 1962, the number of criminal code offences per officer (excluding
traffic offences) has more than doubled. Instead
of an unaffordable and unworkable firearms program, Canadians could have had
10,000 more police patrolling our streets and highways or 238 more MRIs in our
hospitals. This is the legacy of
Liberals’ three terms in office.
We told the Liberals nine years ago that the gun registry
would cost a billion dollars. We
told them it was that the Firearms Act was a bad law that needed to be
repealed and replaced. Paul
Martin never listened. It remains
to be seen if his new criteria will lead him to a different conclusion today.