PUBLICATION:
The
DATE:
2004.12.09
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
News
PAGE:
5
ILLUSTRATION:
photo
by C. Procaylo Marilyn Day is worried government ineptitude could lead to fraud
if her late husband's name were used.
BYLINE:
DAVID SCHMEICHEL, STAFF REPORTER
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GUN
RED TAPE VEXES WIDOW
REGISTRY
PAPER-PUSHERS BUNGLE
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For
the last few years,
There's
one problem. Day's husband -- a former weapons owner -- has been dead almost as
long.
YEARS
OF CORRESPONDENCE
"It
just ticked me right off," Day said of the last letter she received from
the government.
"I
can laugh about it now, but at the time, I was so unbelievably angry. It was a
real insult."
In
addition to coping with her grief, Day has had to contend with years of
correspondence with the Canada Firearms Centre (CFC), which still seems to be
under the impression her husband is alive.
His
guns were destroyed long ago, and a death certificate has been forwarded to the
centre, but Day continues to receive licence-renewal forms in the mail. When she
calls to inform the agency of her husband's status, she's often told to
re-submit her paperwork.
Day
has recently grown worried that the government gaffe might help someone gain
access to a licence in her husband's name.
Calls
to the CFC were not returned yesterday.
Day
adds her voice to many others who are frustrated with the firearms registry,
including Conservative deputy leader Peter MacKay, who said yesterday that
Liberal MP Roger Gallaway "caved in" to pressure from party colleagues
and dropped a motion opposing $96.5 million earmarked for the gun registry in
the government's spending estimates.
MPs
vote on the estimates, which outline the government's spending for the fiscal
year ending March 31, 2005, tonight.
MacKay
said Gallaway may have backed off, but he's submitted the same motion.
Gallaway
said earlier he'd met with other Grit MPs who supported his position, and was
convinced his motion had no chance of passing.
But Gallaway
said he was optimistic the gun registry -- often referred to as the $1-billion
boondoggle due to its skyrocketing price tag -- would eventually die.