December 10,
2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kyoto,
the gun registry, the HRDC boondoggle and now the GST scam are just a small list
of this
OTTAWA
– Today in the House of Commons, the government invoked closure for the 81st
time and ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz predicts that the cost of
implementing the Protocol will end up being another huge waste of taxpayers’
money. “The government said the
gun registry would hardly cost us anything, and it’s costing us a billion
dollars. Add to that the billions
squandered in the department of Human Resources Development, the hundreds of
millions wasted in the government sponsorship scandal, and now this week we find
out that up to a billion dollars was handed out to criminals in a GST scam.
Obviously, this government just can’t handle money responsibly and is
not fit to govern,” said Breitkreuz.
The Kyoto Protocol, which calls for the
drastic reduction of “greenhouse gas” emissions, will have a negative impact
on Canada’s economy. The government has no clear plan as to how it will implement
the Protocol, nor do they indicate how it will help the environment.
Pollution may actually increase if implemented without a clear plan.
The costs of implementation still have not been worked out.
While rumours fly around about programs that the government will
subsidize, there are no concrete figures given to the Canadian public.
In all likelihood, Kyoto will become another Liberal subsidy program to
large corporations.
Government calculations have been wrong
on numerous occasions, most recently with the costs associated with the gun
registry. In 1995, Canadians were
told that the costs of the entire system to the taxpayer would be $2 million.
Today we know that these costs have ballooned to over $1 billion dollars
and continue to climb.
“Let’s put things in perspective.
We all know how long one second is.
One million seconds equals 11.5 days.
One billion seconds equals 31.5 years.
This word picture shows how gigantic the government’s cost overruns
are, and now it wants to add Kyoto to this?” questions Breitkreuz.
“Kyoto will hurt our economy.
We have already seen slow-downs in the energy sector because of the
threat Kyoto brings. The government
has to realize that the costs of implementation are borne by the taxpayer.
Kyoto will become another black hole that sucks Canadians’ hard-earned
money right from their pockets into an endless abyss with doubtful benefits.
What will it take to shake up this Liberal government?” asked
Breitkreuz.
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