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http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id={FCCC6274-24E4-45BF-A302-B8CF97B0D120}
Gun control cost figures under fire
Furious opposition calls new Liberal tactics 'contemptible ... smoke and mirrors'
Tim Naumetz
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, February 27, 2003
The Justice Department continues to hide the true costs of the federal firearms registry behind "smoke and mirrors," opposition MPs charged yesterday.
The accusation came after the government released confusing statements about a request to Parliament for $172 million to fund the program over the next year and to pay bills that have mounted up over the last three months.
Opposition parties and journalists were scrambling for answers late yesterday after Treasury Board tabled main spending estimates for the next fiscal year that contained a specific reference to only a small portion of the program's cost for the year.
News releases from Justice Minister Martin Cauchon and Treasury Board referred to a total of $113 million in planned spending for the next 12 months, but estimates tabled in the Commons, on which MPs will be called to vote later this year, identified only $18 million in transfers to provincial governments for their participation in the program.
Supplementary estimates to cover spending during the current fiscal year, including the period after Dec. 5, when all parties agreed to a government request to withdraw a vote on $72 million in extra funding, were also unclear.
The supplementary estimates contained a reference to $59 million the Justice Department is seeking, instead of the $72 million it asked for last December.
However, the supplementary documents, which cover unexpected spending by government departments, also refer to an additional $14 million the Justice Department borrowed from a $750-million Treasury Board contingency fund for government emergencies.
Canadian Alliance MP John Williams, chairman of the public accounts committee, said it appears the money was drawn from the contingency fund to cover costs of the firearms program during the Commons spending freeze.
"If it's not contempt of Parliament, it's certainly contemptible," said Mr. Williams. "It's smoke and mirrors. It means they are continuing to keep Parliament in the dark."
A spokesman for Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard, however, said the money taken from the contingency fund did not go to the gun program, although he did not know what the Justice Department spent it on.
Spokesman Daniel Grenier said the precise spending plans for the firearms program will be spelled out in the Justice Department's planning and priority documents to be tabled by Treasury Board in late March.
Auditor General Sheila Fraser sparked a furious debate over the gun program last December when she disclosed the Justice Department had hidden the true cost from Parliament since legislation creating the gun registry and licensing system became law in 1995.
Ms. Fraser said the cost of the program was expected to reach $1 billion by 2005. The estimates tabled yesterday will bring the total cost to $900 million within a year. The auditor general said earlier this week the Justice Department should spell out the program's spending plans annually in the main estimates, which it failed to do again this year.
But Mr. Cauchon predicted yesterday he will have enough backing from Liberal, as well as opposition MPs, to get the new spending requests through Parliament.
"What I feel around me, in my caucus, various members of Parliament, they do believe in gun control," Mr. Cauchon said.
© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen