Government Hides Expenses

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Alliance has just uncovered that another $17.5 million has been wasted on the gun registry and that the government's accounting is still incomplete. Seven other departments and agencies incurred gun registry costs but they were not reimbursed or reported to Parliament by the Department of Justice.

Why did the government hide the $17.5 million in additional gun registry costs from Parliament? Why was that hidden?

Hon. Wayne Easter (Solicitor General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I really find it difficult to understand where this member is coming from. The government hid nothing in terms of costs. The costs were all tabled before the committees and before estimates.

Let me provide an example. There were 325 actual police investigations using the services and information database of the Canadian firearms program in the month of December. The member would have us believe that if there is an arrest as a result of that investigation, we should charge the cost of incarceration to the firearms--

The Speaker: The hon. member for Yorkton—Melville.

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, even the Auditor General of Canada said that answer was not correct, that it was being hidden from Parliament.

It has been almost six months since the Auditor General blew the whistle on this billion dollar boondoggle and the government still cannot tell Parliament or the oppressed and exhausted taxpayers how much the gun registry will cost.

I ask again, how much will it cost to fully implement the registry and how much will it cost to maintain it?

Hon. Wayne Easter (Solicitor General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, maybe when we were discussing estimates before the justice and human rights committee the other day the member should have raised that question. He continues to blow all things out of proportion in the House of Commons.

The fact of the matter is that the Minister of Justice and I announced an action plan for the firearms centre some time ago in which greater efficiencies are now being brought into the system. Measures have been taken to improve the system. The Internet registration is working well. There is a continuous improvement plan on which I have already reported.

Maybe when the member comes to committee he should listen to the facts.

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