NEWS RELEASE

January 29, 2003                                                                                          For Immediate Release

JUSTICE MINISTER STILL KEEPING PARLIAMENT IN THE DARK

“Government’s answers provide virtually no evidence that universal gun registration is worth a billion dollars.”

Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and Property Rights, provided his rebuttal to each of the responses provided by the government to four written questions reported to the House of Commons on Monday.  “The questions I asked the government to answer were very straight forward.  Unfortunately, the Justice Minister’s answers left Parliament in the dark,” commented Breitkreuz.  “Each question I asked was based on promises made to Parliament by Justice Minister Rock, claims by the Minister Cauchon’s public relations official and the program’s measures of success as reported in departmental budget documents.”

“In 1995, Justice Minister, Allan Rock made specific promises concerning the benefits of universal gun registration in order to get Parliament and the public to support their legislation.  The Minister’s answers to Order Paper Question Q-49 clearly show that none of these benefits have been realized,” observed Breitkreuz.  “We realized that these were empty promises back in 1995.  Now the majority of Canadians know the truth, and that’s why 53% of them want the gun registry scrapped.”

Breitkeuz’s Order Paper Question Q-50 asked the government to report on the Measures of Success reported in the Department of Justice’s 2002-2003 Estimates - Part III, under the Long-Term Benefits section for the Firearms Control Program.  “The Justice Minister’s response fell far short of full disclosure,” reported Breitkreuz.  “The answers were incomplete and in many cases the Minister didn’t even answer the question.  He’s going to have to provide better answers when he’s called before the Public Accounts Committee and Standing Committee on Justice.”

The Justice Minister’s answer to Order Paper Question A-88 made a poor defence of the claims made by David Austin, spokesperson for the Canadian Firearms Program in the Calgary Sun on November 17, 2002.  “The Minister provided lots of rhetoric but no statistics to back up his official’s claims that the gun registry has reduced crime, saved lives and tracks illegal arms movements,” said Breitkreuz.

Finally, Solicitor General Wayne Easter’s answer to Order Paper Question Q-89 didn’t explain why the Annual Report on Organized Crime for 2002 failed to document the number of firearms stolen from the police and the military.  “The RCMP have hundreds of firearms stolen from the police and the military listed in their files, but for some reason the Criminal Intelligence Service fails to report this as a source of weapons for organized crime and street gangs,” revealed Breitkreuz.

“Parliamentarians need clear answers - not irrelevant political rhetoric,” demanded Breitkreuz.  “The government hid the true costs of the gun registry from Parliament and the public.  They’ve been giving us the same song-and-dance routine on the benefits of universal gun registration for the last eight years.  The Liberal government’s cover-up has to stop.  I agree with the Auditor General that this is not a gun control issue: it’s a government out-of-control issue,” concluded Breitkreuz.

NOTE:  Breitkreuz’s full rebuttal is available by clicking here:

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/rebuttaltothegovernment.htm

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