PUBLICATION:        The Ottawa Citizen

DATE:                         2003.03.19

EDITION:                    Final

SECTION:                  Editorial

PAGE:                         A16

SOURCE:                   The Ottawa Citizen

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Shot down

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Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard just unveiled a startling new theory of responsible government. She told the House of Commons public accounts committee that the Chretien cabinet knew gun- registry costs were out of control in 1997, but MPs didn't ask the right questions the right way, so it was OK to hide the situation from them.

What should MPs have done? In 1995, Reform MPs brought in a witness who warned the registry would cost $1 billion, and then-justice minister Allan Rock ridiculed him on the floor of the House. Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz submitted more than 300 Access to Information requests in eight years. Yet when he asked Ms. Robillard, after her outburst, what the registry now costs, she couldn't say.

By Ms. Robillard's tortured logic, the government can hide information if MPs don't ask searching questions, and if they do ask, it doesn't count.