NEWS RELEASE

 January 13, 2004                                                                           For Immediate Release

BREITKREUZ UNCOVERS MORE UNDISCLOSED GUN REGISTRY COSTS

“How long will the Liberals be allowed to cover-up the full cost of this billion-dollar boondoggle?”

Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and Property Rights, released preliminary results of his ongoing attempts to document all the tax dollars blown on the billion-dollar gun registry.  “The Justice Minister’s Performance Report on the Firearms Program did not include a full accounting of all the ‘direct and indirect costs’ incurred by all federal departments,” revealed Breitkreuz.  “For the last year, Parliament was promised again and again that we would have a complete and accurate financial statement of all the gun registry costs.  Now we have proof that the Liberal government broke their promises yet again on the fatally-flawed firearms file.”

On October 31, 2003, the Justice Minister tabled his long-awaited Performance Report on the Firearms Program that documented $47.2 million in previously undisclosed “indirect costs” incurred by the following departments: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade = $0.0 Million; Department of the Solicitor General = $0.3 Million; Office of the Information Commissioner = $0.2 Million; Department of Justice = $9.5 Million; Correctional Services Canada = $12.5 Million; Human Resources Development Canada = $3.4 Million; Royal Canadian Mounted Police = $3.8 Million; National Parole Board = $2.4 Million; Public Works & Government Services Canada = $7.8 Million; Canada Customs and Revenue Agency = $6.9 Million; and Office of the Privacy Commissioner = $0.4 Million.

“We know for a fact that the figures the Liberals reported in their October Performance Report are wrong because they had already tabled different answers in Parliament on May 16, 2003,” revealed Breitkreuz.  “In response to our Order Paper Question Q-194, they provided Parliament with the following conflicting information concerning indirect costs by the following departments:

·        Department of Foreign Affairs = $45,000 (since May 2001 only) – NOT zero dollars as reported in October.

·        Treasury Board – “Will report in the fall of 2003” – BUT Treasury Board is missing from the October report.

“Both these departments racked up major expenses related to the Canadian Firearms Program.  Treasury Board officials had two Firearms Oversight Committees and were meeting regularly with Justice Department officials to provide the gun registry with emergency cash to keep it running since 1995,” reported Breitkreuz.  “Foreign Affairs issues all the import and export permits for hundreds of thousands of firearms annually and is involved in a number of international gun control programs (see attached).  To report to Parliament that they spent nothing is an outrage and shows disrespect for Parliament, the place where all government spending is to be closely monitored and approved.  This is a violation of the fundamental principles of a democracy.  Citizens have a right to know what the government is doing before they mark their ballot at election time.”

Breitkreuz has also determined that the following federal departments have incurred unreported costs implementing and complying with the Firearms Act and Regulations: Fisheries and Oceans; Natural Resources; National Defence; Canadian War Museum; Parks Canada; and Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service.  “We have filed Access to Information Act requests to get the costs incurred by these departments.  To date we have only received partial reports from some departments.  The Office of the Information Commissioner is investigating,” concluded Breitkreuz.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

FIREARMS RELATED ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE

·        Organizing, operating and participating in the National Committee on Firearms;

·        Formulating, implementing and administering the Canadian Plan of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons;

·        Developing and implementing the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects;

·        Developing and implementing the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;

·        Developing and implementing the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons (OSCE Document);

·        Developing and implementing the The Inter-American Convention Against The Illicit Manufacturing Of And Trafficking In Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, And Other Related Materials (Inter-American Convention), signed by Canada in November 1997;

·        Developing and implementing the EU Joint Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons adopted by EU States on 17 December 1998;

·        Developing and implementing the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports adopted by EU States;

·        Planning and participating in the Small Arms Survey 2001 and 2002;

·        Participating in the planning, implementing and administering the Canadian Firearms Program, the Firearms Act and regulations and Part III of the Criminal Code; including the processing and issuing import and export permits for firearms and related products.