PUBLICATION: THE GLOBE AND MAIL 

DATE:  THU NOV.28,2002 

PAGE:  A6 

BYLINE:  KIM LUNMAN 

CLASS:  National News 

EDITION:  Metro DATELINE: Ottawa ON 

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Gun registry to cost around $1-billion

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Canada's firearms registry will likely cost taxpayers more than $1-billion by 2005 -- more than 10 times the amount the Liberal government said it would spend on the controversial gun-control program. Treasury Board officials expressed concern about the rising costs of the national registry for firearms at a meeting of the Senate committee on national finance.

Richard Neville, deputy comptroller of the Treasury Board Secretariat, told the committee this week that "there is a strong possibility that the final costs" of the firearms registry could be around $1-billion. 

He made the remarks under questioning from senators who wanted to know why the Department of Justice is requiring an additional $72-million to administer the program that implements the government's tough gun-control laws passed in 1995. Former justice minister Allan Rock said the national firearms registry would cost taxpayers a total of $85-million when Bill C-68 became law seven years ago.

Mr. Neville told the committee members that it is expected that the government will have spent $810.8-million on the program by the end of 2002-2003. Among the costs was $29-million for communications and public affairs, which includes advertising. The central processing site in Miramichi received $59-million while the RCMP received $64-million.  "From the Treasury Board Secretariat perspective, we are very concerned about this file," Mr. Neville told the committee when asked about the cost overruns.  The cost of the national firearms registry is expected be scrutinized in the Auditor-General's report, to be released next Tuesday. 

But Senator Anne Cools, a Liberal member of the Senate's finance committee, said she wants answers from Justice Minister Martin Cauchon.  "Something is very wrong," she said in an interview yesterday. "There has been no accountability. We still have no idea why it has cost so much and why it has ballooned."

The government is hoping to pass Bill C-10 (a), which amends the Firearms Act, before the end of the year. Among other things, the bill would create a national firearms commissioner and stagger licence renewals.  All Canadian gun owners must have their firearms registered by Jan. 1, 2003.  But gun-control advocates have defended the program, saying what it will save by preventing crimes involving guns will far outweigh the spending overrun.

The price tag

Officials estimate the gun registry will cost $810.8-million by 2002-2003. So far, $688-million has been spent. A partial breakdown: