NEWS RELEASE

March 18, 2003                                                                                                        For Immediate Release

LIBERALS REFUSE TO CALL CAUCHON TO EXPLAIN $59 MILLION FOR GUN REGISTRY

“Yesterday, the Treasury Board President said MPs don’t ask enough questions about the estimates.  Today, the Liberals refuse to give us the opportunity to ask questions.”

Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and Property Rights, was disgusted that the Liberal majority on the Justice Committee voted down the Canadian Alliance motion to hold meetings on the Supplementary Estimates.  “Yesterday, at the Public Accounts Committee, the Treasury Board President said MPs don’t ask enough questions about the estimates in Committee.  Today, the Liberals refuse to give us the opportunity to ask questions about the estimates.  They can’t have it both ways,” exclaimed Breitkreuz.  “This is the Liberal government keeping Parliament in the dark aided and abetted by Liberal backbenchers.” 

The motion, defeated at the Justice Committee meeting this morning, and introduced by Vic Toews, Senior Justice Critic for the Canadian Alliance read: Pursuant to Standing Order 81(5), I move; That the committee hold meetings to consider and report on the 2002-03 Supplementary Estimates (B), votes 1 and 5 for the Department of Justice; That the committee invite the Minister and senior officials to appear before March 20, 2003; That the Minister provide information relating to future expenditure plans and priorities of the Department, specifically with regard to the Canadian Firearms Program; That the committee consider and report to the House of Commons no later than March 20, 2003, its recommendations on the future expenditure plans and priorities of the Department.

“The questions Parliamentarians have about the Justice Minister’s request for another $59 million will not be answered before we all have to vote on the estimates on March 26^th,” said Breitkreuz.  “On December 5^th, Parliament voted unanimously to refuse the Justice Minister’s request for another $72 million for the gun registry.  The Minister told the House repeatedly that he was running the gun registry at ‘minimum levels’ and that he was using a financial ploy he called ‘cash management’.  Now he’s asking Parliament for another $59 million and MPs won’t have an opportunity to get the answers we need before we vote.  “This is the ‘transparency’ promised to Parliament by the Justice Minister?” asked Breitkreuz.

“On December 3^rd, the Auditor General said Parliament was kept in the dark on the gun registry costs.  Fifteen weeks later, the government hasn’t made things any brighter,” commented Breitkreuz.  “Yesterday, in the Public Accounts Committee even the Treasury Board President was forced to admit under Canadian Alliance questioning that she still didn’t know the total cost of the gun registry.”

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