PUBLICATION:
The Ottawa Citizen
DATE:
2002.12.16
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
News
SOURCE:
The Ottawa Citizen
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Gold
to lead
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Justice
Minister Martin Cauchon just informed Parliament that he was going to keep the
$1 billion long gun registry alive by lending it money from other Justice
Department programs. Does it sound familiar?
He
needs to do it this way because he didn't dare ask Parliament to give it another
$72 million. In announcing that he was bypassing MPs he promised them,
"I'll be open. I'll be transparent." So the opposition asked him where
the money was coming from -- and he refused to say.
Apparently
Mr. Cauchon isn't embarrassed by what the registry costs, nor to give it
virtually unlimited sums of money, but he is ashamed to tell Parliament what it
costs and ask for funding in a straightforward way.
He
says he'll fund the registry by slipping it money in this unorthodox fashion
until the problems in it are fixed. Does he still not realize that funding it
that way is one of its main problems?