PUBLICATION:             GLOBE AND MAIL 

DATE:                         FRI FEB.06,2004 

PAGE:                         A7 (ILLUS) 

BYLINE:                     KIM LUNMAN 

CLASS:                       National News 

EDITION:                    Metro DATELINE: Ottawa ON 

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Rejection of free vote on gun registry under fire

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KIM LUNMAN

With a report from Drew Fagan

Prime Minister Paul Martin's promises to give Liberal MPs more freedom came under attack yesterday after government House Leader Jacques Saada said Liberals will have to toe the line when voting on the controversial gun registry. "The Prime Minister has already broken his promise that he made on national television only last night," Conservative Party MP Garry Breitkreuz said during Question Period yesterday. "He said one of the most important democratic reforms is to give MPs more power to represent their constituents."

Mr. Martin made the comments on a town-hall meeting broadcast by CBC on Wednesday night.

"Now he announces there will not be a free vote on the gun registry. The Prime Minister's words and his actions do not line up," Mr. Breitkreuz said.

Earlier yesterday, Mr. Saada told reporters in Ottawa that Liberal MPs will have to support the government on the gun registry. Anything to do with fundamental positions of the government will not be subject to a free vote, he said.

Free votes allow MPs to vote as they wish, not follow the party line.

Mr. Saada was responding to a question about a free vote on more money for the gun registry. Any budget issue would be a matter of confidence and "my answer is no," he said.

Last year, some Liberal MPs split over injecting $59-million into the gun registry. Two MPs abstained from voting and a dozen, including many opposed to the registry, were absent for the vote.

Mr. Breitkreuz also asked why the government is reviewing the "billion-dollar boondoggle" instead of scrapping the program.

Albina Guarnieri, Minister of State for Civil Preparedness, defended the review. "The government's review of the gun registry is about building a better gun system," she told the House of Commons. "With this registry, gun advocates will ensure that they have a sustainable system and owners of guns can expect a system that listens to their legitimate concerns."

Conservative Party MP John Williams, chairman of the parliamentary public accounts committee, said the divisive issue should be open to a free vote. "It's bullying tactics," he said. "The country is split. Everybody's upset because there's a billion dollars down the drain. The darned thing doesn't work. There's no indication it's going to work any time soon. . . . There's nothing democratic about this process."

A recent Ipsos-Reid poll found that slightly more than half of Canadians -- 52 per cent -- said Mr. Martin should scrap the gun registry and 43 per cent did not think it should be dismantled. The remaining 5 per cent surveyed did not have an opinion on the issue.

The registry, introduced during former prime minister Jean Chretien's tenure, came under scrutiny after a blistering Auditor-General's report that blamed the government for its astronomical cost overruns. Initially budgeted at $2-million, its implementation is now expected to cost taxpayers $1-billion by 2005.