NEWS RELEASE

  May 8, 2001                                                                                                               For Immediate Release

  GUN REGISTRY PRIVATIZATION PLANS WELL ADVANCED

“We already have ‘privatized’ Firearms Officers doing personal background checks.  What’s next?”

  Ottawa – Last night, in the House of Commons, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, asked a question the Minister of Justice just can’t or won’t answer.  “What’s the difference between ‘privatization’ and ‘outsourcing’?” asked Breitkreuz.  Following-up a question he asked on February 12^th, the Canadian Alliance Critic on Gun Control, would like the Justice Minister to explain the rationale behind her privatization scheme and what effect it would have on the huge cost overruns and the effectiveness of the problem-plagued gun registry.  

  “The Minister has failed to respond to the questions raised in a number of reports since we first made public the government’s Letter of Interest and Question & Answer documents” reported Breitkreuz.  “The Minister’s silence on this important initiative is deafening,” said Breitkreuz.  “Why all the secrecy?” 

  FEBRUARY 16^th – Privacy Commissioner writes that he is “deeply concerned” about the government’s plans to “privatize or outsource the Canadian Firearms Program” and says he “intends to pursue the matter.”

FEBRUARY 24^th – President of the Union of Solicitor General Employees said that the layoff of 130 RCMP civilian employees working at the national gun registry and the transfer of another 130 employees from the RCMP to the Dept. of Justice was “the first step towards privatizing the registry.”  Edmonton Sun

MARCH 1^st – The National Post ran a front-page story reporting on a government document, “…that seems to contradict assurances by the Minister of Justice, that only parts of the registry and licencing functions would be outsourced.”  Professor Robert Klassen of the University of Western Ontario told the National Post, “it sounds like privatization.”

MARCH 1^st – Edmonton City Police Staff Sgt, Al Bohachyk called a privatized gun registry “a frightening prospect” because there is no “guarantee personal information…won’t get to the wrong people – organized crime figures for instance.” Edmonton Sun

MARCH 3^rd – .The Moncton Times and Transcript reported that 700 people in Miramichi marched to the MP’s office to protest layoffs caused by privatization of the gun registry.

APRIL 20^th – “Gun registry privatization nears reality” blared the headline in the Moncton Times and Transcript.  A Dept. of Justice official stated they would be done their early evaluation within two weeks.

APRIL 24^th – The Moncton Times and Transcript reported that more than 70 part-time employees would be let go beginning as early as May 6^th. “However, the union believes the federal government plans to privatize the entire licencing and registration system, taking all the workers off the federal payroll and with no guarantees a private company would hire any of them.”

  The most alarming concern raised in Breitkreuz’s questioning was that the Library of Parliament uncovered that there are already seven “private” Firearms Officers working for the gun registry in New Brunswick.  One of these privatized Firearms Officers even has his own private investigation firm in Fredericton.  His appointment letter gives him the power to conduct investigations by “reviewing police files, conduct interviews with applicants, spouses, relatives, neighbours and employers.”  Breitkreuz added, “This Firearms Officer/Private Eye advised my office that he told a newspaper reporter that he was doing firearms background checks because he thought it would be good for business.  It makes you wonder how many more ‘privatized’ Firearms Officers are across the country.”  The Privacy Commissioner is investigating.

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