cuchulainn
Member
I don't understand the title at all. The writer says PE and QE are the only two left. There are 13 Canadian provinces? 13 - 2 = 11. And then the writer mentions only 6 provinces in opposition. So where does "And then there were eight" come from? 
In any event, it's good news.
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet...M/20030107/wgunz17a/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
from The Globe and Mail
In any event, it's good news.
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet...M/20030107/wgunz17a/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
from The Globe and Mail
POSTED AT 3:28 PM EST Tuesday, January 7
And then there were eight
By DARREN YOURK
Globe and Mail Update
Prince Edward Island and Quebec remain the lone provinces standing behind the federal gun-registration program.
Monday morning Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Minister Kelvin Parsons joined Ontario and Nova Scotia in calling on Ottawa to suspend the program. By Tuesday morning Manitoba, B.C. and Saskatchewan had joined the chorus of calls for federal justice minister Martin Cauchon to suspend implementation of the registry.
In British Columbia, Gordon Campbell's Liberals say they won't administer the registry due to a cost dispute, while Alberta and Manitoba have decided the it is up to the federal government to prosecute offences that fall solely under the Firearms Act.
The provinces are calling for a suspension until Auditor-General Sheila Fraser can complete an audit of the real costs to taxpayers and a thorough cost/benefit analysis.
Jim Hinter, president of the National Firearms Association, told globeandmail.com Tuesday that he's not surprised at the fast-growing dissent.
"I'm not surprised for a second," Mr. Hinter said. "We've been getting messages and communications from people across the country, many of whom aren't firearms owners, supporting the movement to stop the registry."
"...What we really need is sensible gun control that will keep our communities safe. What we have now is useless."
Mr. Hinter said he's disappointed that neither Prime Minister Jean Chrétien nor Mr. Cauchon have responded to the province's demands.
"We're hoping they use their ears and mouths because so far they haven't listened or talked about it," he said. "What is it going to take? Where are we headed here with this? If they won't listen on something as important as our community safety, what guarantees do we have threat they'll listen on health care?"
Phone calls to the Department of Justice on Tuesday were not returned.
In December, Ms. Fraser found the Liberal government kept Parliament and the Canadian public "in the dark" about ballooning costs of the gun registry, which was originally budgeted to cost $2-million, but which is now expected to cost taxpayers $1-billion by 2005.
In her report, Ms. Fraser cited the registry as a glaring example of the government's "inexcusable failure" to account for how it spends Canadians' tax dollars.
According to documents obtained by the Globe and Mail through the Access to Information Act, the federal government spent nearly $160-million to create a computer system to run the registry and now it's spending another $36-million to figure out how to replace it.
That makes the total cost of the system nearly $200-million to date, 100 times more than the government's initial estimate of what the entire registry would cost taxpayers.
New Brunswick Justice Minister Brad Green, whose province is home base for the gun registry call centre, said Monday the controversial program should be shut down until its usefulness can be further evaluated.
"We have done our best to co-operate with the federal government to try and make this registry work but there is overwhelming evidence that it does not," Mr. Green said.
"Therefore, New Brunswick joins those other provinces calling upon Ottawa to conduct a full and complete audit of the gun registry system and also to suspend registration until such time as that audit is complete."
The results of an independent audit into the national firearms registry are expected by the end of January.
With a file from Kim Lunman
© 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
