Solicitor general to get control of gun programCanadian Press
OTTAWA — Responsibility for the federal gun control will be shifted in what Justice Minister Martin Cauchon called improvements that will reduce the annual costs of the over-budget program.
The gun registry will be administered, starting April 1, by Solicitor General Wayne Easter, who is also responsible for the RCMP.
"One of our aims is to reduce the annual cost of the program to $67 million by 2008-2009," Cauchon told the House of Commons.
Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz, a longtime critic of the program, said the announcement is akin to giving deckhands on the Titanic "rolls of duct tape" to try to fix the gaping holes in its side.
In her December report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said the 10-year cost of the program could rise to $1 billion by 2005 from the original $2 million estimated by the Liberal government when the program was announced in 1995.
The gun control registry was denied further money by Parliament in December, but continued to function on a pared-down basis while the program was reviewed.
Sources say the government will return to the Commons next week with a renewed proposal to grant the supplementary spending estimates withheld in December. But the new estimates will be lower than the $72 million previously sought.
One element of the plan is a proposal to improve transparency and accountability of the system by requiring annual audits to be reported to Parliament.
There are measures as well to make the registration process more "user friendly" for firearms owners.
The economy drive was sparked by widespread criticism -- from Liberal backbenchers as well as opposition MPs -- following the auditor general's report last year.
The government has rejected calls to ditch the program, saying gun control is necessary to ensure public safety. But it is trying to deflect criticism of the cost overruns by reforming management of the system.
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