PUBLICATION:          The Edmonton Sun 

DATE:                         2004.01.11

EDITION:                    Final 

SECTION:                  Editorial/Opinion 

PAGE:                         13 

ILLUSTRATION:        photo of ALLAN ROCK Started registry 

BYLINE:                     MINDELLE JACOBS, EDMONTON SUN 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I WAS WRONG ABOUT THE GUN REGISTRY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Columnists hate to backtrack but since a new year is a time of reflection, I'm climbing down off my high horse on the issue of gun registration.

A year ago, I enraged critics of the bloated gun registry by defending it, despite the massive cost overruns.

I was besieged by e-mail from snippy readers flinging unprintable epithets.

One caller demanded to know where I grew up.

"Ontario," I replied. "Well, that explains it," he said, the assumption being that I was one of those insufferable pinko Liberals trampling all over people's freedoms.

Well, somewhat regretfully, I have concluded that, despite its worthy goal, the federal gun registry has been a complete failure.

It's time to scrap it and redirect the resources to other critical public policy areas.

Philosophically, I still support the idea of such a database but in the face of overwhelming evidence that it has done nothing to advance the primary objective - gun-control - it seems like a colossal waste of money.

Just last week, Sun Media reported that criminals are routinely using the mail to smuggle guns and drugs into Canada and the U.S. from around the world.

None of the recipients of these guns, naturally, are going to register them. And criminals continue to dispatch one another regularly with undocumented firearms.

Sparked by the 1989 murder of 14 women at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, the Liberals introduced the Firearms Act in 1995.

Allan Rock, the justice minister at the time, said the registry would cost $2 million and that the program would be self-financing through licensing fees.

But in her 2002 annual report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser excoriated the Liberals for their "inexcusable failure" to keep tabs on the program's ballooning expenses.

The gun registry could cost more than $1 billion by 2005, 500 times the initial estimate, she warned.

Exacerbating the situation, then prime minister Jean Chretien dismissed Fraser's concerns.

"There are programs where there is some overspending," he said.

"It happens to you in your private life. It's the same for us," he explained.

The difference is that when the government spends recklessly, it just dings the taxpayers for more money.

Ordinary Canadians just end up buried under a pile of bills.

It doesn't help, of course, that eight provinces, including Alberta, are refusing to enforce the gun-registration law. They have surely contributed to the runaway costs.

And it's worth bearing in mind that vast numbers of Canadians do support the registry, despite the outcry and antics of the critics.

But at this point, the disadvantages far outweigh the anticipated benefits. There comes a time when you have to jettison cargo that's threatening the entire ship.

Prime Minister Paul Martin has already indicated that the ship of state is floundering and that all government programs will be reviewed in order to trim costs.

There's no question that the biggest albatross around Ottawa's neck is the gun registry. Even Martin conceded last week that the rising costs are "unacceptable" and that the program will be revamped. Unfortunately, the Liberals are in a no-win situation. No matter how much they tinker with the registry, expenses will continue to mount with little to show for it.

But if they concede defeat and dump it, that would be admitting opposition MPs were right all along. The Conservatives would revel in the comedown.

At this stage, the Liberals should put up with a certain amount of political humiliation in order to make better use of public funds.

A billion dollars could be better spent on social programs to prevent kids from falling into crime in the first place and more treatment centres for drug addicts.

The Liberals also need the backbone to legislate tough minimum sentences for any crime involving a firearm. Say, five years to start. Cons can save their blubbering excuses for their prison pillows.