NEWS RELEASE

June 25, 2003                                                                                                  For Immediate Release

GUN REGISTRY BOSS COMMUTED FROM EDMONTON TO OTTAWA

FOR TWO YEARS AT A COST TO TAXPAYERS OF MORE THAN $200,000

“No wonder the Liberals blew a billion dollars on the gun registry with decisions like this one.”

Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and Property Rights, released documents exposing another Liberal travel expense scandal - but this one authorized by the Minister of Justice.  The expense claim documents released by Breitkreuz show that Gary Webster, CEO of the Canadian Firearms Centre from July 2001 to February 2003, commuted from his home in Edmonton to his workplace in Ottawa – 56 round trips over 23 months at a cost of more than $205,000.  “Deputy Minister of Justice, Morris Rosenburg, signed many of Mr. Webster’s expense claims: so apparently even Justice Minister Cauchon approved of this costly, commuting arrangement,” revealed Breitkreuz.  “Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski’s travel expenses amounted to $12,000 a month, and he was hauled up on the Parliamentary carpet and forced into early retirement.  Gary Webster spent $9,100 a month in travel expenses and he gets promoted and still commutes from his home in Edmonton to keep his new job in the Justice Department in Ottawa,” exclaimed Breitkreuz.  “There isn’t one iota of common sense in this Liberal government when it comes to caring about how much of your hard-earned money it wastes.  If we don’t change the system, we won’t change much else,” declared the Saskatchewan MP.

Despite Ms. Flumian’s publicly reported experience with travel expense claims while she was with the Department of Fisheries, her expenses appeared quite frugal when compared with Mr. Webster’s.  An analysis of the 203 pages of travel documents obtained through the Access to Information Act, revealed that Flumian racked up travel expenses averaging a little over $2,800 per month while her replacement claimed an average of $9,100 per month in travel expenses.  Here are the details:

WEBSTER’S 60 EXPENSE CLAIMS                  FLUMIAN’S 35 EXPENSE CLAIMS

            OVER 23 MONTHS                                                       OVER 16 MONTHS

Airlines                                   $168,866.70                                                            $33,807.38

Hotels                                     $  23,923.42                                                            $  3,903.10

Meals & Incidentals              $    9990.95                                                             $  4,013.26

Taxi, Mileage, Car Rental     $   6569.17                                                             $  3,689.99

                                                                                                _______________________                                                                                                                          ______________________

            TOTAL:                    $209,350.30                                                               $45,413,73

“The Standing Committee on Public Accounts is still reviewing the Auditor General’s report on the huge cost overruns in the firearms program.  It looks like Deputy Minister Rosenburg will be coming back for another round of questioning in the fall,” predicted Breitkreuz.  This incident proves that the problems with Liberal government expense accounts go far deeper than just the Radwanski affair.  He’s a minor part of the problem.  The more we dig into Liberal largess, the more horror stories we will find.  Voters will have another chance to clean House at the time of the next election,” concluded Breitkreuz.

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ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS FROM BREITKREUZ’S ANALYSIS

OF WEBSTER’S AND FLUMIANS EXPENSE CLAIMS

June 25, 2003

Breitkreuz released 203 pages of travel expense claim documents for both CEO’s of the Canadian Firearms Centre, Gary Webster and Maryantonnett Flumian.  Remember, these are the two bureaucrats that got promoted after blowing the biggest part of the billion dollars wasted on the gun registry boondoggle. 

WEBSTER’S EXPENSE RECORDS                             FLUMIAN’S EXPENSE RECORDS

60 Trips by Air @ $2,814/trip                                      22 Trips by Air @ $1,536/trip

Average Hotel Charges/Claim = $399                         Average Hotel Charges/Claim = $111

Average Meals & Inc. Charges/Claim = $166             Average Meals & Inc. Charges/Claim = $115

Average Taxi & Car expenses/Claim = $109                         Average Taxi & Car expenses/Claim = $105

Note #1: Webster’s Expense Claims cover a period from April 23, 2001 to March 27, 2003

Note #2: Flumian’s Expense Claims cover a period from March 10, 2000 to June 19, 2001

Breitkreuz obtained the expense claim documents for the two CEO’s through an Access to Information Act request dated April 3, 2003: “For the period from January 1, 2000 to present, please provide copies of all travel expense accounts submitted by the Chief Executive Officers of the Canadian Firearms Centre.”

After paying a photocopying fee of $40.60 on June 10, 2003, the Justice Department sent the documents on June 16^th and they were received in Breitkreuz’s office on June 23, 2003.