April 7, 2003
Dear Editor:
Re: WHY VOTE FOR LIBERALS IF THEY WON’T VOTE FOR YOU?
On
Tuesday, March 25th, we saw a clear demonstration of a serious flaw
in our democratic system: Many Liberal MPs put Jean Chrétien’s wishes ahead
of their constituents’ wishes, by voting to pour another $59 million into the
failed firearms registry. Two days
later, an editorial in a major national paper said it all: “So when backbenchers claim
they have no influence, remember: People without spines rarely stand tall.”
Even on the day before the vote,
newspapers trumpeted that a revolt was in the works – that as many as 20
Liberal MPs were considering defying the Prime Minister, despite his threat to
expel them from caucus if they voted against the new registry money.
It was reported that more than one Liberal MP was in tears at the thought
of flouting the express wishes of constituents one more time, simply because
Jean Chrétien told the Liberal caucus how to vote.
The
hypocrisy was not lost on reporters and editorial writers across Canada, who
pointed out that Jean Chrétien didn’t consider it a matter of confidence when
Parliament decided unanimously on December 5th to withdraw $72
million in supplementary spending from the gun registry program - so why now?
Perhaps more pertinently, why did
Liberal Members of Parliament continue to pour money into this program, knowing
full well that Parliament is still being kept in the dark?
Four months earlier, the Auditor General reported that the firearms
program would cost a billion dollars to implement – not the $2 million that
Justice Minister Allan Rock promised Parliament in 1995.
But that’s not all the Auditor General said.
In her 2002 Report to Parliament, the
Auditor General wrote:
“We
believe that this information does not fairly present the cost of the Program to
the government…the Department of Justice did not provide Parliament with an
estimate of all the major additional costs that would be incurred.
This
disclosure was required by the government's regulatory
policy.
The costs incurred by the provincial and territorial
agencies in enforcing the legislation were not reported.
In addition, costs that were incurred by firearms owners, firearms clubs,
manufacturers, sellers, and importers and exporters of firearms, in their
efforts to comply with the legislation were not reported.”
The government, to this day, has no
idea how much the firearms registry has cost so far. The Canadian Alliance has posed question after question to
the Liberals in the House of Commons, trying to get an answer.
All we got in return were repeated reminders of why the daily routine is
called “Question Period” and not “Answer Period.
So every Member of Parliament knew
they were buying a pig in a poke – prime tax-fattened pork, I might add – if
they gave in to the Prime Minister’s threats.
They had no excuse. Liberal
MPs have some explaining to do to their constituents if they voted for the $59
million or if they didn’t have the courage to vote.
Two days after the Prime Minister won
his vote and Liberal constituents lost theirs, the Justice Minister rubbed their
noses in the mess he’s made. He
tabled a report in Parliament that confirmed many of the Auditor General’s
most alarming conclusions. Among
them, the Minister forecasted that the gun registry would cost up to $128
million for this year ($33 million more than they estimated in last year’s
report). He admitted that even
though his numbers were grossly incomplete, that the gun registry will have cost
at least a billion dollars by 2005. And
he confirmed that he had no idea how much the gun registry would eventually
cost, because his spreadsheets estimating the spending by departments other than
Justice were filled with 105 blank spaces.
The Minister really is shooting
blanks. He has no idea how much the
registry has cost so far. He has no
idea how much it will cost for enforcement and compliance in the future.
Estimates published by the Library of Parliament demonstrate that
enforcement costs alone could top a billion dollars, if even 10% of
non-compliant gun owners are prosecuted. So
clearly, we’re talking about a $2 or $3 billion-dollar boondoggle here – not
just a billion-dollar boondoggle. Just
think of all the excellent projects and programs that are begging for money
while the Liberals waste money on their firearms fiasco.
Liberal MPs failed to do their primary duty to their constituents and
taxpayers; namely, to vote against gross government waste and mismanagement
wherever and whenever they see it. Their
constituents have to ask: Why should I vote for you if you won’t vote for me?
If the Liberal regime won’t change to become more democratic, it’s
time to change the regime.
Sincerely,
Garry Breitkreuz, MP
Yorkton-Melville