NEWS RELEASE
February 3, 2000
For Immediate Release
EDS CANADA GOBBLES UP 57% OF ORIGINAL $85 MILLION ESTIMATE FOR GUN REGISTRY
"This consulting firm has exceeded their original estimate by 325% but the Liberals just keep on paying!"
Yorkton –
"Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville and Official Opposition Firearms Critic, took the public another step closer to the truth about the out-of-control spending on the Liberal government’s fatally-flawed gun registration scheme. "On April 25, 1995, then Justice Minister Allan Rock, told the House of Commons that the cost for setting up the Canadian Firearms Registration System would be $85 million spread over five years. This week, I learned that one consulting company, EDS Canada, has already signed contracts worth $48,986,469.70," revealed Breitkreuz. "That’s 57.6% of the Liberal’s original $85 estimate to set up the whole registration system.Breitkreuz released the results of his Access to Information (ATI) Request he received from the Dept. of Justice after waiting four and a half months and filing a complaint about the delay to the Information Commissioner. The documents show that in November of 1997, EDS Canada started out with two contracts - one worth $14,000,000 and a second worth $1,095,614. Through a series of five revisions the original fourteen million-dollar contract has escalated by 325% to $45,487,000 and still has more than a year to run. The second contract has increased by 319% to $3,499,469.76 after six revisions.
"In the meantime, Justice Minister Anne McLellan is desperately trying to convince Canadian taxpayers that the start-up costs for the Liberal gun registry topped out at $120 million. "If that’s true, why is she using the Cabinet secrecy excuse to hide the true costs for the registry. How can she claim the registry is fully implemented when such a small number of guns have been registered (only 319,369 as of Jan 14, 2000) and so few gun owners have applied for licences (only 212,864 as of Jan 14, 2000)?" asked Breitkreuz. "If the registry is fully implemented as the Minister says, why is she still approving wildly escalating consulting costs for EDS Canada and extending their contract deadline to March 31,2001?"
Government documents released to me over the past year indicate that there may be as many as 1,000 bureaucrats (including 391 RCMP employees) working on the federal firearm registry and for the separate Quebec registry. The documents also reveal that the total cost has now exceeded $300 million and only about 2% of these costs have been recovered in user fees," said Breitkreuz. "I would like to remind everyone of the Justice Minister’s talking points dated May 25, 1995 which said, ‘No large bureaucracy is needed to administer the registration system. Every effort will be made to keep the system simple and cost effective’." I guess it’s all a matter of how a Liberal defines the terms: ‘no large bureaucracy’, ‘simple and cost effective’ when they are trying to ram a bogus bill through Parliament. Maybe they are hoping no one will remember what they said five years after the fact," concluded Breitkreuz.
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For more information, please call:
Yorkton Office: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa Office: (613) 992-4394
e-mail:
breitg0@parl.gc.caANOTHER POLITICALLY MOTIVATED FISCAL HORROR STORY
OR
HOW ONE CONSULTING FIRM GOBBLED UP 57.6% OF ORIGINAL BUDGET ESTIMATE
TO SET UP THE CANADIAN FIREARMS REGISTRY
By Garry Breitkreuz, MP – February 3, 2000
Note: The following figures were taken from copies of contract documents obtained from the Department of Justice through the Access to Information Act [Justice File A-1999-0126 dated January 28, 2000]
Background
In June of 1995 the Liberal government rammed their politically motivated gun registration law through Parliament. They ignored all evidence that the task was impossible and the costs dramatically underestimated. Documents obtained from the Department of Justice document yet another classic example of poor planning and fiscal mismanagement by the Liberal government.
One consulting firm, EDS Canada has consumed more than half of the $85 million the Justice Minister, Allan Rock told the House of Commons it would take to implement his fatally-flawed gun registration scheme. Was Parliament deliberately misled or is this just another example of fiscal mismanagement and bureaucratic incompetence by a Liberal Cabinet Minister?
Here is a blow-by-blow account of this unfolding fiscal disaster:
EDS CONTRACT #1 – SYSTEMS INTEGRATION TASK AUTHORIZATION CONTRACT
DATE TOTAL TOTAL
ESTIMATED COST CUMULATIVE COST
Nov 28/97 [Page 56] $ 14,000,000 $ 14,000,000
Jun 03/98 [Page 133] $ 5,000,000 $ 19,000,000
Oct 13/98 [Page 135] $ 9,000,000 $ 28,000,000
Jan 21/99 [Page 140] $ 6,000,000 $ 34,000,000
Apr 16/99 [Page 149] $ 8,812,000 $ 42,812,000
Jul 26/99 [Page 156] $ 2,675,000 $ 45,487,000
EDS CANADA CONTRACT #2 – FACILITIES CONTRACT
EDS CANADA CONTRACT #2 (Continued)
DATE TOTAL TOTAL
ESTIMATED COST CUMULATIVE COST
Nov 28/97 [Page 1] $ 1,095,614.60 $ 1,095,614.60
Jan 30/98 [Page 29] $ 15,689.87 $ 1,111,304.47
Mar 31/98 [Page 33] $ 69,701.94 $ 1,181,006.41
Jun 03/98 [Page 37] $ 240,788.52 $ 1,421,794.93
Oct 13/98 [Page 43] $ 890,831.56 $ 2,312,626.49
Mar 15/99 [Page 47] $ 251,336.06 $ 2,563,962.55
Apr 16/99 [Page 52] $ 935,507.21 $ 3,499,469.76
TOTAL COSTS OF EDS CANADA CONTRACTS #1 AND #2 (SO FAR)
CONTRACT #1 - Total Estimated Costs as of July 28, 1999 = $45,487,000.00
CONTRACT #2 - Total Estimated Costs as of April 16, 1999 = $ 3,499,469.76
________________
$ 48,986,469.76
ORIGINAL ESTIMATE COST TO IMPLEMENT GUN REGISTRY = $85,000,000
The original estimate of $85 million was tabled in the House of Commons by then Justice Minister Allan Rock when he appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on April 24, 1995.
For a copy of the EDS Canada October 1999 Monthly Progress Report please contact:
Garry Breitkreuz, MP - House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 992-4394 Fax: (613) 992-8676 E-mail: breitg0@parl.gc.ca