PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL
DATE:
WED JAN.07,2004
PAGE:
A1 (ILLUS)
BYLINE:
JANE TABER
CLASS:
National News
EDITION:
Metro DATELINE: Ottawa ON
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Martin
targets gun registry
NEWS:
A major overhaul is likely as Ottawa begins review, sources tell JANE TABER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Former
prime minister Jean Chretien's $1-billion gun registry is under review by the
new Paul Martin government and likely will be significantly altered in a move
that would appeal to Western Canada. Among the changes being considered, sources
say, is reallocation of some of the resources used to finance the registry to
beef up other areas, such as policing or security at borders where illegal guns
make their way into Canada from the United States.
A
senior government official said yesterday the gun-registry legislation is not
"a meaningful law." Most provinces and territories, including Alberta
and British Columbia, have refused to comply with the legislation, which came
into force last year.
Only
one person has been convicted under the new law of failing to register a gun;
there are estimates that more than one million guns are not registered.
However,
the official said yesterday the review is not expected to recommend killing the
registry.
"The
question is, is it going to metamorphose into something else.
.
. . If we're going to spend this money, maybe there is a better way of spending
it or siphoning some off to areas which need it."
Albina
Guarnieri, Minister of State for Civil Preparedness, is conducting the review.
Prime
Minister Paul Martin and Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, a Western Liberal
MP who as justice minister in the Chretien government was one of the key
supporters of the legislation, consider the review a priority.
They
asked the Mississauga MP and new minister to take on the registry review just
after she was sworn in to cabinet last month.
"This
is in the spirit of what [Finance Minister] Ralph Goodale announced, that
everything in government is under review," Ms. Guarnieri said in an
interview yesterday.
Ms.
Guarnieri, who is a proponent of gun control, said she is not approaching the
review with any "entrenched positions."
"Gun
control is much more than a simple registry," she said.
Ms.
Guarnieri said she will look at how efficiently public money is being spent and
whether "Canadians are getting value for their dollars."
She
also expectds to "co-involve" some Liberal colleagues, such as Paul
Steckle and Rose-Marie Ur, two MPs from rural ridings in Ontario, who opposed
the registry.
In
fact, Ms. Ur cried during one particularly emotional caucus meeting last year as
she asked Mr. Chretien to reconsider his edict that Liberal MPs who voted
against a request for $59-million more for the gun registry would be expelled.
Many
Liberal backbenchers complained that they were rarely consulted during the
Chretien era, saying their role was simply to vote for government legislation.
Now
the landscape has changed. Mr. Martin wants to address what he calls the
"democratic deficit" and allow MPs a say in legislation and policy.
He
has also said he wants to re-engage Western Canada and increase western
representation in his government.
Revamping
the costly gun registry would be one way to woo the West, where the program is
so unpopular that Alberta even launched a constitutional challenge. It lost.
Ms.
Guarnieri has expertise in the area of victims' rights and has worked closely
with the police on various issues during her 15 years on the back bench.
And
she said yesterday that the Firearms Centre, which oversees the registry, has
made "some improvements" over the past year.
Ms.
Guarnieri said she will work "expeditiously" on the review, hoping to
complete it within several months. That means her recommendations would come in
time for the federal election, widely expected in the spring.
Last
year, the Liberal caucus erupted over the registry after a report by Auditor-
General Sheila Fraser, tabled in December of 2002, said that implementing the
program will cost more than $1-billion by 2005. When the program was first
introduced in 1995, Canadians were told it would cost $2-million after the fees
from licences and registration were recovered.
Ms.
Fraser criticized the Justice Department for allowing the cost of the program to
escalate without telling Parliament.
In
a year-end television interview, Mr. Martin said he was concerned about the
registry's cost.
"So
what's really important is to get those costs, those ongoing costs down,"
he said, noting that there is a "great deal of good in the gun
registry."
"But
the basic point that's being made is that in fact we've got to make sure that
money is available for health care. It's the number one priority."
---------------------------------------------
NEWS RELEASE - January 2, 2004
BREITKREUZ
SENDS OPEN LETTER TO PAUL MARTIN
“Here
are 12 good reasons why the whole Firearms Act has to go – not just the gun
registry.”
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns107.htm
MONTREAL GAZETTE: 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
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article213.htm
CALGARY HERALD: Shooting down the gun registry: Does Paul Martin have the nerve to scrap a flawed and misguided program?
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/CalgaryHeraldColumn2003-12-17.pdf
VANCOUVER SUN COLUMN: Do gun laws really improve public safety?: Statistics show that violent crime in Canada is on the rise even as we do more to restrict firearms
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article216.htm
JULY 2, 2003 - PAUL MARTIN'S LETTER SUPPORTING THE GUN REGISTRY
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article145.htm
-------------------------------------------
DECEMBER 19, 2003 - PAUL MARTIN RULES OUT CANCELLING GUN REGISTRY
On other issues, Mr. Martin said he does not favour
arming customs officers at border points as is done in the U.S. and ruled out
cancelling the $1-billion gun registry to pay for new social programs.
"That money, unfortunately, has been spent," said Mr. Martin, who
promised to reduce the bureaucratic costs of the gun registry, but noted law
enforcement agencies favour the law.
PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen
DATE:
2003.12.19
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
News
PAGE:
A1 / Front
BYLINE:
Robert Fife and David Vienneau
SOURCE:
The Ottawa Citizen
NOTE:
On the web for seven-day subscribers: Read the full text of Robert Fife and
David Vienneau's interview with Prime Minister Paul Martin. www.ottawacitizen.com