Gun registry had to cough up $63,000 for violating photo copyright

PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen
DATE: 2004.10.22
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: A3
BYLINE: Bill Curry
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen

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Gun registry had to cough up $63,000 for violating photo copyright:
report: Review reveals ‘irresponsible’ spending, theft

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The much-maligned Canadian Firearms Centre paid a photographer $63,618
last year after it was caught violating copyright by using his photos in
a pamphlet without permission, according to documents released
yesterday.

The revelation is but one of many in a litany of federal spending — and
bureaucratic theft — outlined in the Public Accounts of Canada.

The public accounts provide the details of all spending in the last
fiscal year and include a large section itemizing theft to government
property. Among the millions of dollars in theft over a one-year period,
computers, cellphones, digital cameras and flat-screen TVs were the most
popular items. One thief at Citizenship and Immigration even walked off
with a $250 oak coat rack.

In the questionable spending category, the hefty price tag for photos in
a firearms brochure is “obviously irresponsible,” said Conservative MP
John Williams, who reviews such spending annually as chairman of the
Commons public accounts committee.

“Sixty-three thousand dollars for pictures on the firearms? These are
the people that were given the authority to pick up all the firearms so
that nobody would break the law and what are they doing? They’re
breaking the law themselves. I don’t know what they’re up to, but after
a billion dollars wasted, they found another way to waste another
$63,000. It’s obviously irresponsible.”

In the case of theft, taxi passes continue to be a hot commodity for
public servants with sticky fingers as several departments listed
thousands of dollars lost because their employees stole the “chits” for
personal use.

Trucks, ATVs, lawn tractors, lawn mowers, a cord of wood, rubber boots,
tires, a chain link fence and a wood fence also made the list of stolen
items.

Not even the highest court in the land could keep the thieves away, with
the Supreme Court reporting that $1,496 in chairs disappeared before its
eyes.

Other thieves went beyond robbing public assets in order to stiff the
poor. The Environment Department recorded a $40 “theft of bingo money”
for the United Way. Though the $40 is listed as “not expected to be
recovered,” a G. Fricska was reimbursed by the department for a $1,979
stolen bike.

Even Conservative House leader John Reynolds, a regular critic of
government spending, landed on the ex-gratia list for claiming $914
after the House of Commons dry cleaning service lost one of his tailored
suits.