TRUE COST OF GUN REGISTRY UPSETTING, DAY SAYS
Date: Feb 17, 2006 8:03 AM
NOTE: Versions of this Canadian Press story also appeared in the Globe
and Mail, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Sun, Halifax Chronicle Herald and the
Fredricton Daily Gleaner.

Publication: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Section: National / World
Page: 12
Date: 2006-02-17
Byline: Dan Dugas
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: The Canadian Press

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TRUE COST OF GUN REGISTRY UPSETTING, DAY SAYS

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OTTAWA – Canadians will be shocked by the true cost of the federal
government’s ill-fated gun registry, says new Public Security Minister
Stockwell Day. Day told The Canadian Press that figures bureaucrats have
shown him during briefings for his new portfolio are much higher than
previously thought.

He would not divulge what the tab is, but said it’s upsetting. “Some of
these numbers, when we get out all the numbers and when the auditor
general releases them all very soon, eyebrows are going to go up,” he
said yesterday. “People are going to be upset and they’re going to have
a right to be upset.”

When the Liberals added the registry to the federal gun control program
in 1995, they said it would cost taxpayers no more than $2 million. But
the most recent estimates put the figure in the hundreds of millions of
dollars, bringing the total cost of the gun program to more than $1
billion. At last estimate, the gun program was said to be consuming $90
million a year to maintain.

Day said an auditor general’s report will show that a lot of money was
needlessly lost. “I think what will grab people is the fact it didn’t
have to be this way, whatever the final number is, it could have been
avoided.”

Day is part of a group, including Justice Minister Vic Toews and
longtime gun registry critic Garry Breitkreuz, looking at how best to
kill the registry as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised voters during the election
campaign that the registry would be scrapped and money redirected to
public safety. Day said it may take more than just the $90 million from
the registry to fulfil Tory promises of hiring 1,000 more Mounties.

“The cost of providing the safety and security that Canadians want,
there’s going to be a cost to that, and there’s a possibility that not
all of it will be found within the savings of the long gun registry.
Will it be enough to offset what we’re talking about in terms of 1,000
officers? Maybe yes, maybe no.”

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WHAT THE LIBERALS CAN’T OR WON’T TELL YOU ABOUT THEIR $2 BILLION
FIREARMS PROGRAM
By Garry Breitkreuz, MP, Conservative Firearms Critic – August 8, 2005
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/issues/guncontrol.htm>

NEWS RELEASE – March 3, 2004
CBC’s $2 BILLION DOLLAR COST ESTIMATE FOR THE GUN REGISTRY WAS LOW “One
billion is gone and the only way to stop the waste of another billion is
to scrap this useless program.”
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns115.htm>

NEWS RELEASE – October 21, 2003
LIBRARY REPORT EXPOSES MORE MISSING MILLIONS IN GUN REGISTRY COSTS
“Liberals still refuse to provide cost information that the Auditor
General requested in her report.”
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns96.htm>

LIBRARY REPORT PROVES GUN REGISTRY PRICE TAG UP AT LEAST ANOTHER QUARTER
BILLION
“Wayne Easter breaking promise to implement AG’s recommendations -
Parliament still in the dark.”
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns88.htm>

NEWS RELEASE – March 24, 2003
ENFORCING THE FIREARMS ACT COULD EASILY COST ANOTHER BILLION DOLLARS!
“Is this why the government wouldn’t tell the Auditor General what the
enforcement costs would be?”
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns81.htm>
Link to the Library of Parliament paper:
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/march20,2003.doc>

June 16, 2003 – COMPLIANCE COSTS OF FIREARMS LICENCES: PRELIMINARY
ESTIMATES – Parliamentary Research Branch, Library of Parliament.
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/LofP-june16-2003.doc>

January 2, 2004 – EXCERPT FROM AN OPEN LETTER TO PAUL MARTIN: Your
government failed to follow Cabinet approved Regulatory Policy and has
never released the cost-benefit analysis you prepared on the Canadian
Firearms Program. The Commissioner of Firearms told Senators and
Members of Parliament that it was a “Cabinet secret”.
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/Article217.htm>

March 31, 2003 – GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO RELEASE “MAJOR ADDITIONAL COSTS”
IDENTIFIED BY THE AUDITOR GENERAL
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/questions/mar-31-2003-written.htm>

GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO TELL US THE ECONOMIC COST OF THE GUN REGISTRY
“The economic cost of the gun registry will make the actual operating
expenditure of $600 million seem like small potatoes.”
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/Guncontrol41.htm>