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from the London Free Press
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2003/11/25/267423.html
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2003/11/25/267423.html
Federal gun registry cost to hit $1 billion by 2005
MARIA MCCLINTOCK, Free Press Parliamentary Bureau
OTTAWA -- The cost of the problem-plagued federal gun control program will hit the $1-billion mark by 2005, the head of the firearms centre admitted yesterday. "Sometime in '04-05 the costs of the program will hit the $1 billion, as projected," David Austin said yesterday.
It's the first time the government has confirmed the controversial price tag will become a reality.
Auditor General Sheila Fraser predicted the huge expenditure in a scathing report issue last December.
But Austin disputed suggestions by Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz that the program would reach the $1-billion mark by the end of March 2004 -- a year earlier than expected.
Breitkreuz said he based his claim on new figures outlined in the Justice Department's performance report, which was released earlier this month.
The report shows there has been $47.2 million in "indirect" costs for the firearms program during the last seven years -- costs picked up by other government departments.
The indirect costs have never been publicly reported, one of Fraser's criticisms.
The $47.2 million is in addition to the $766.6 million in direct costs the Justice Department reported by the end of March 2003.
The federal government has budgeted another $128 million for the program for this year -- bringing the overall price tag of the program to $941 million.
But Breitkreuz argues there are still future costs that haven't been estimated that will easily bring up the overall tally.
"This tells us the thing is out of control beyond what the government even led us to believe originally. The spending on this thing is considerably worse than the auditor general found."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2003