PUBLICATION:
The
Leader-Post (Regina)
DATE:
2003.07.16
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
Viewpoints
PAGE:
B7
SOURCE:
The Leader-Post
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Gun
registry a black hole
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In
science, roughly speaking, a black hole is a region in space whose mass is so
concentrated there is no way for a nearby object to escape its gravitational
pull and as a result it sucks in all types of matter, including light.
It's
beginning to seem like Ottawa created a fiscal black hole when it set up the
federal gun registry. The registry simply gobbles up any money within its orbit.
A
blistering report last December from federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser
revealed that spending on the firearms program had reached an obscene $1
billion.
Almost
monthly since her report, more details of this program's astounding ability to
waste money have come to light. The latest revelations concerning this shameful
foul-up come in a government financial statement obtained under the Access to
Information Act by CanWest News Services.
According
to the statement, the Canadian Firearms Centre spent $13 million on travel over
the last six years and nearly $500,000 on hospitality during the same period.
The statement was prepared when the accounting and management consulting firm of
KPMG conducted an audit of the program earlier this year.
Strangely
enough when the report was released by Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, then the
cabinet minister in charge of the firearms registry, this information was not
included.
Just
last month, Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz released Access to Information
reports revealing that Gary Webster, former chief executive officer for the
firearms centre, spent $209,000 over two years commuting between Edmonton and
Ottawa. Breitkreuz, incidentally, deserves recognition for the relentless manner
in which he has pursued the misspending that has taken place in the gun program.
To
be fair, this isn't new spending, it would have been included in the auditor
general's $1 billion cost, it just hadn't come to light until now. Nonetheless,
it is a clear indication of just how profligate this program has been with tax
dollars.
The
best thing for the Liberals to do would be to scrap the whole program. But that
isn't going to happen.