37th Parliament, 2nd Session
(September 30, 2002 -     )

Edited Hansard • Number 048

Wednesday, January 29, 2003 

[Hansard – Page 2845]

Firearms Registry

    Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, Parliament continues to be kept in the dark about the costs of the gun registry. Maybe the public accounts committee will shed some much needed light on the subject.

    Could the chairman of the public accounts committee provide Parliament and Canadians with a status report of its upcoming review of the federal firearms fiasco?

    Mr. John Williams (St. Albert, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his excellent question.

    The public accounts committee will begin hearings on February 24 into the Canadian firearms program. We will start by calling the following witnesses: the Auditor General, the Minister of Justice, the Deputy Minister of Justice, the President of the Treasury Board and the current and former CEOs of the Canada firearms program.

    Let me be clear. Parliament has a responsibility to investigate this billion dollar boondoggle to the fullest on behalf of all Canadian taxpayers to find out how the program could have spiralled so far out of control.

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