37th Parliament, 3rd Session
(February 2, 2004 - )

[Parliamentary Coat-of-Arms]

Edited Hansard • Number 011

Monday, February 16, 2004

 

ORAL QUESTION PERIOD

Firearms Program

 

    Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, CPC): Mr. Speaker, according to the CBC, the Firearms Act has not cost taxpayers just $1 billion; it is instead approaching the $2 billion mark. There are many costs still unaccounted for in that number.  The Prime Minister said that he was outraged by the waste of $250 million on the sponsorship program. The cost of the gun registry is now not 500 times over budget but 1,000 times over the original projection given to Parliament.  Why is the Prime Minister not outraged about that?

 

    Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, let me be absolutely clear. We do not accept that number referred to in the report referred to by the hon. member. In fact, we have asked Radio Canada to provide us with its numbers and its calculations which to date it has refused to do. Let me reassure the House that to date, the Canadian firearms program has not cost $1 billion let alone $2 billion.

 

    Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the cost benefit analysis of the gun registry has been kept a secret. The Auditor General blew the whistle on that. Trust for the Prime Minister is in free fall and he still keeps the gun registry reports hidden from Parliament. The gun registry is closing in on $2 billion and the Prime Minister just orders another review. Look at the similarities of this and the sponsorship scandal. Ignorance is no excuse on this file. The Prime Minister wrote most of the cheques. He helped hide the most damaging reports. When will he take responsibility for--

 

    The Speaker: The hon. Deputy Prime Minister.

 

    Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, let me remind the hon. House that since the Auditor General tabled her report in relation to the gun control program, we have accepted her recommendations and we have implemented her recommendations.  Full program costs, as the hon. member should know, were tabled last October as part of the justice department's performance report. I will soon table a complete response to the public accounts committee report on the program. A ministerial review of this program is underway.  We have been transparent in relation to the cost of this program.

 

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February 3, 2003 - FALSE STATEMENTS IN FIREARMS REPORT CONTEMPT OF PARLIAMENT: BREITKREUZ

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/speeches/Feb-3-2004.htm

 

 

NEWS RELEASE - November 18, 2003

JUSTICE MINISTER’S PERFORMANCE REPORT ON GUN REGISTRY LESS THAN HONEST

“The truth about firearms crime is in Statistics Canada reports, but the Liberals just ignore the facts.”

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns101.htm