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Gun registry gets another $59 million
Canadian Press
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
The Liberal government pushed another $59 million for the troubled federal gun registry through the House of Commons on Tuesday, overcoming opposition objections and internal dissent from some of its own backbenchers.
The funding, approved in two votes by margins of 173-75 and 173-76, tops up the registry budget for the fiscal year that ends March 31. Another $113 million will be required later to cover next year's operations.
No Liberals voted against the measure, but two took the unusual step of noting to the Speaker that they abstained from voting and four others were absent.
The Canadian Alliance, Conservatives and most New Democrats opposed the funding while most Bloc Quebecois members supported it.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien had declared the issue a matter of confidence in his government and warned that Liberal dissidents could be expelled from caucus if they didn't toe the party line.
The registry, created in 1995, is eventually supposed to keep a record of every firearm in the country, including hunting rifles and shotguns as well as the handguns and automatic weapons that had traditionally been subject to strict controls.
The program has been under attack since a scathing report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser three months ago disclosed massive cost overruns.
Fraser estimated the registry, originally supposed to cost taxpayers just $2 million, will actually have cost $1 billion by the end of its first decade in operation in 2005.
Some critics say that's a low estimate and predict the real cost could be double the figure cited by the auditor general.
The government, faced with backbench unrest, put off a decision on further spending in December. Since then, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon and Solicitor General Wayne Easter have announced a series of reforms aimed at cleaning up the mess.
In the most dramatic move, responsibility for the registry is to be transferred from Cauchon's department -- which is primarily a policy shop staffed by lawyers -- to Easter's department which has greater experience running day-to-day programs in co-operation with the RCMP and other police forces.
Easter, in an apparent effort to win over some reluctant Liberals, has promised yet another review of the program once he takes control of it. But he indicated the focus will be on eliminating inefficiencies rather than on changing the fundamental principles.
"We recognize there are some concerns, and rightly so, about the financial management to date," said Easter. "We have a process in place where we will be able to bring that under control."
Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz, a fierce critic of the registry, was skeptical of the exercise.
"They never, ever come clean on this," he said. "I'm getting fed up, after seven years, with study after study."
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe said his party backed the funding because, despite its past problems, the registry must continue to operate.
"We have to ensure it's managed in a tighter way, but if we put an end to the program there 's no more gun control," said Duceppe.
Chretien told his caucus at a closed-door meeting last week that it was time to press ahead and the $59 million in supplementary spending estimates would be a confidence matter.
That meant, in theory, that a defeat for the Liberals could have forced an election call, something nobody wanted.
The prime minister, through party whip Marlene Catterall, also made it clear that anyone who voted against the funding could be booted from caucus.
Those who simply refuse to vote -- rather than casting a negative vote -- usually don't incur the same wrath. Chretien has often turned a blind eye to light turnouts or abstentions.
The last Liberal to be expelled from caucus for bucking the party line was maverick John Nunziata, who voted against a budget measure in the mid-1990s out of frustration at the government's refusal to abolish the GST.
© Copyright 2003 Canadian Press
