PUBLICATION:        Times Colonist (Victoria)

DATE:                         2003.03.24

EDITION:                    Final

SECTION:                  Comment

PAGE:                         A6

SOURCE:                   Times Colonist

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Chretien's election threats

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As the federal Liberals move to pump another $59 million into their bloated gun registry program, Prime Minister Jean Chretien is said to once again be threatening dissident MPs with "a snap election" should they not support the initiative.  It's not likely.

Nor was it likely to get the support needed to ratify the Kyoto accord, to enter the war against Iraq without a UN resolution or to eliminate corporate and union donations from political campaign contributions, yet in all instances the threat of "a snap election" made it into the headlines.

Unfortunately, we're bound to see more of this threat as the months progress and Chretien, a lame duck prime minister who refuses to quack (make that quit), stamps his feet to keep a increasingly restless caucus toeing the party line.

There's little doubt Chretien will win this fight for supplemental funding to keep the registry alive. Lord knows it shouldn't.

In its eight years the cost of this experiment has ballooned to $800 million and is expected to reach $1 billion by 2005 from the original estimate of $2 million. The registry's accuracy is doubtful and its efficacy has been questioned even by certain law enforcement officials -- the very people it was originally intended to help.

When Auditor General Sheila Fraser disclosed the actual expected cost of the program, the government agreed last December to reduce a request to Parliament for $72 million in supplemental funding to zero.

Now a handful of Liberal MPs and senators have written to every Liberal MP urging them to vote against the suggested $59 million in additional funding.

They say the government's support of the program is forcing them to ignore the wishes of their constituents.

Supporters, on the other hand, say the government has no choice but to continue with the firearms program or the $800 million already spent over the past eight years will have been wasted.

Come Tuesday, political expediency will see the vote pass and more taxpayer dollars will be funnelled into an extremely questionable federal program.

After all, no one really wants to jeopardize a political career over something like the registry. Chretien knows that.

He also knows that between now and his retirement in 2004, he has the least to lose by calling a snap election. It makes a great threat.