PUBLICATION: Toronto Star
DATE:
2004.02.14
SECTION:
NEWS
PAGE:
A06
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gun
registry costs $2B, CBC reports
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada's
gun registry is costing taxpayers far more than previously reported, CBC News
reports.
Nearly
$2 billion has either been spent on or committed to the federal program since it
was introduced in the mid-1990s, according to documents obtained by Zone Libre
of CBC's French news service.
The
figure is roughly twice as much as an official government estimate that caused
an uproar across the country.
The
controversial registry was originally supposed to cost less than $2 million.
In
December, 2002, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser- whose report on sponsorships
rocked the federal Liberals on Tuesday- revealed that the registry program would
run up bills of at least $1 billion by 2005.
CBC
obtained documents through the Access to Information Act and crunched the
numbers, since calculations were incomplete.
A
large part of the $2 billion expense is a computer system that's supposed to
track registered guns, according to one document cited by Zone Libre.
Officials
at first estimated it would cost about $1 million. Expenses now are close to
$750 million and the electronic system is still not fully operational.
Other
errors and unforeseen expenses include $8 million in refunds to people who
registered their guns, and millions more in legal fees, CBC said.
A
Coalition for Gun Control spokesperson disputed Zone Libre's calculations,
calling the $2 billion figure inaccurate.